PHILIPSBURG — On January 25, TRON DAO “proudly” announced that St. Maarten would initiate a law to make TRON the country’s blockchain technology and TRON-based crypto currency its legal tender. On March 22, the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had filed a complaint against TRON-founder Justin Sun for the unregistered sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) and for fraudulently manipulating secondary markets for TRX.
Sun, a 32-year old Chinese crypto-entrepreneur who obtained a masters from the University of Pennsylvania also allegedly made illegal payments to eight celebrities to tout TRX and BTT. One of those celebrities, actress Lindsay Lohan, received $10,000 to promote the cryptos.
The SEC also charges Sun with extensive wash trading: the simultaneous and near-simultaneous purchase and sale of TRX to make it appear actively traded without an actual change of beneficial ownership. Six of the eight celebrities paid altogether $400,000 to settle the charges against them.
The TRON-controversy and the charges against its founder Sun also put MP Rolando Brison in an awkward position. Tron’s announcement that St. Maarten would initiate a law to make its platform the country’s blockchain technology was not completely accurate. Not the country, but MP Rolando Brison promised taking steps to make TRON St. Maarten’s default blockchain technology.
Brison has been promoting crypto currency for some time. In March 2022 he requested that his salary be paid in Bitcoin Cash. Finance Minister Ardwell Irion said that he received the request but that it was never executed.
A crypto promoter called Marc, who publishes regular videos about the topic, recently commented on Brison’s arrest on suspicion of bribery. He mentioned a possible link between crypto and the bribery as a possible reason for the arrest.
A tweet from someone called David connected the dots: “So let me get this right… Out of the blue in January, Justin Sun *persuades* MP Rolando Brison to accept TRON as legal tender in St. Maarten. Then in February Justin Sun gets his diplomatic immunity and status revoked in Grenada, for reasons unknown. Then in March, St. Maarten MP Rolando Brison gets arrested for accepting bribes.”
Bitcoin promoter Marc is not so sure, though he still has his doubts: “If there was crypto currency involved in Brison’s bribery it was most likely TRON.” He furthermore noted that the arrest is causing reputational damage to crypto.
Bitcoin.com News announced on March 19, 2022, Brison’s request to convert his salary into Bitcoin Cash. The article mentions that Brison wants St. Maarten to become “the crypto capital of the Caribbean.” It furthermore states that Brison intends to translate Dominica’s Virtual Asset Business legislation in a manner that fits the Dutch legal system and the local economy. Dominica approved this legislation in May 2022, but so far nothing more has become public about Brison’s translation-promises.
“Allowing crypto currency to continue totally unregulated in St. Maarten is extremely risky and we have to be proactive,” Bitcoin.com News quoted Brison as saying in 2022.
The SEC filed its complaint against Justin Sun at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Its filing claims that Sun directed employees to engage in more than 600,000 wash tradings between April 2018 and February 2019. According to the SEC, Sun generated $31 million by illegally selling TRX in secondary markets.
After the SEC-complaints became public Sun tweeted that the charges are “without merit.”
###
Related articles:
SEC Charges Crypto Entrepreneur Justin Sun and his Companies for Fraud and Other Securities Law Violations
TRON DAO Proud to Announce St. Maarten’s MP Rolando Brison Initiates Law to Legalize TRON-Based Crypto
Opinion piece: The pitfalls of crypto
MP Brison arrested on suspicions of bribery
Bribery-suspect MP Brison released from detention
Prime Minister speaks on latest developments
Opinion piece: You scratch my back…
