U.S. District Judge Allows LeXpunK and DEF Join Ooki DAO’s Defense Against the CFTC

A US Judge has allowed LeXpunK and DEF to Join Ooki DAO’s defense, ordering the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to reconsider the Court ruling.

LeXpunK Army and DeFi Education Fund join Ooki DAO’s Defense

United States District Judge, William H. Orrick, has granted two cryptocurrency advocates, LeXpunK and DeFi Education Funds (DEF), leave to file Amicus briefs allowing them to join Ooki DAO in its defense against CFTC. The court order was approved yesterday 12th of October, and made public today 13th, via a tweet by DEF.

According to DeFi Education Fund’s tweet, the federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the two groups of crypto advocates, LeXpunK Army and DEF, could argue that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should not be able to serve the members of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) through a website help bot.

In the ruling, the judge gave LeXpunK until Oct. 17 to file its amicus brief, while DeFi Fund filed its own amicus brief alongside its motion for leave.

CFTC Vs Ooki DAO Case Reopened

Earlier this month, on October 3, 2022, the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission CFTC was granted the right to serve members of the Ooki DAO with summons through online communications.

In a court order granting a CFTC motion, U.S. District Judge William Orrick said the commission could provide a copy of its summons and complaint through Ooki DAO’s help chat box and a notice on its online forum. 

However, on the same day of the ruling, LeXpunK Army and DEF requested to join the case. The two groups asked to be allowed to argue alongside Ooki that the CFTC should identify and directly serve members of Ooki DAO in a lawsuit alleging they violated federal law rather than serve the DAO itself through a website chat bot.

In response, U.S. District Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California ordered that LeXpunK Army, a group of lawyers and software developers, and the DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a lobbyist group, could file Amicus Briefs to reopen the case with the CFTC.

According to Judge Orrick, the request for Amicus implies a demand to reconsider the court’s previous ruling on the CFTC/Ooki case. He says, “I interpret these requests as Motions for Reconsideration regarding my decision to permit alternative service in this case.”

A Lifeline For Ooki DAO

Recently, Ooki DAO was dragged to court over alleged lawbreaking in the U.S. by the CFTC. Ooki is currently facing allegations of illegally running Ooki Protocol as an unregistered leveraged crypto exchange that does not collect customer data. 

Before the October 12 ruling, Ooki DAO and its members had a few days to respond to the CFTC formally. However, the new ruling seems to throw a lifeline to Ooki DAO, as it will help the firm buy some more time.

According to the court order, The CFTC has until November 7 to oppose the DEF and LeXpunK filings, while the two groups can respond to the agency’ motion within a week. 

The court order also stated that there would be a hearing on Nov. 30, 2022, to hear the motions.