In a crypto defamation suit, the founder of Ava Labs has been awarded $3 million

In a defamation suit, Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer was awarded $3 million in damages by a crypto influencer.

A YouTube video posted in February 2021 by crypto influencer Emre Aksoy connected Sirer to an Islamist group the Turkish government calls the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

According to Askoy, Sirer was a member of his group, and he instructed his YouTube following to short the Avalanche (AVAX) token. Sirer claims that the defamation cost him millions and crashed AVAX’s price. By the end of the month, the token had fallen 57% from its $55.51 high on Feb. 11, 2021.

Sirer was awarded $750,000 in general damages for reputational harm by United States district judge Beth Bloom on April 28. The judge stated that Sirer’s past testimony “adequately shows he suffered considerable reputational harm, among other things.”

In addition, Sirer received $2 million in punitive penalties to “deter the kind of malicious behavior perpetrated by the defendant” and $300,000 in “special damages for his increased security costs” from Bloom.

Sirer stated last week at a blockchain conference on Roosevelt Island in New York City that until regulators can read and audit code, the business cannot be considered mature.

His remarks coincide with a wider crackdown on cryptocurrencies in the United States, where regulators have enacted regulations banning everything from staking to stablecoins.

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