TechFlow news, July 10 — According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, attorney John Deaton has filed a securities fraud class-action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of retail investors against William Sarris, founder and former CEO of Linqto.
The lawsuit alleges that Sarris orchestrated a years-long fraud scheme by selling shares in private companies such as Ripple, Uphold, and Kraken through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) on the Linqto platform, using undisclosed markups of up to 60%, misleading exemptions, and unlicensed sales practices.
According to the complaint, Sarris ignored internal legal memos from 2023 and 2024 warning that these products violated multiple U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules, including acting as an unregistered broker-dealer and operating an unregistered investment company.
