Lawsuit filed in Sweden against Facebook parent in Juicy Fields case
The Swedish lawyer Lars Olofsson brought a class action against Facebook and the Instagram parent Meta in connection with cannabis Ponzi scheme Juicy Fields. The plaintiffs in the case include more than 800 people from 50 countries.
The lawsuit alleges that Meta was grossly negligent and “failed to control who they allowed to use the platforms, and in direct violation of Meta’s own terms of service.” Charges against Meta are, among other things, violations of the Swedish Penal Code for fraud, aggravated fraud as well as aiding and abetting fraud and aggravated fraud.
Olofsson filed the lawsuit in the district court in Luleå, Sweden, because Meta has a global server center in the area.
“This is where the crime has been committed because it is from these servers that the clients have been exposed to the Juicy Fields scam,” he said.
After being fined and banned from trading by German financial regulator BaFin in June, Juicy Fields was shut down in mid-July. According to Olofsson, up to €2 billion is missing from investors’ accounts, affecting thousands in countries around the world, but particularly in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Malta.
As precedent for holding large tech platforms accountable for due diligence regarding illegal activity by their affiliates, advertisers or customers, Olofsson previously cited a case in which plaintiffs accused credit card company VISA of providing payment processing for the distribution of child pornography on adult media platform Pornhub. While the case is pending, VISA and Mastercard moved to suspend card payments for advertising on Pornhub and its parent Mindgeek in August after a request to dismiss the case was denied.
The recent debacle at the billion-dollar bitcoin exchange FTX also increased scrutiny of fintech platforms that use aggressive media marketing tactics to promote risky investment schemes.
On November 15, a class action was filed in US District Court in Florida accusing FTX of misleading customers, resulting in billions of dollars in investor damages.
Also named in the suit are several celebrities who promoted FTX, including Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and Brady’s ex-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry; Kevin O’Leary of ABC’s Shark Tank; and comedian Larry David, who appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX. The Golden State Warriors were also named after partnering with FTX to display the company’s logo on the team’s home court.
As in the Juicy Fields case, FTX is accused of targeting “unsophisticated investors.” Edwin Garrison, a plaintiff in the FTX case, said endorsements and marketing influenced him to trust the company and invest funds that now appear to have been lost.
Besieged former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was was interviewed by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Nov. 30 at the DealBook Summit, saying, “I never tried to defraud anybody.”
Juicy Fields Trial – Luleå district court, Sweden – English-4
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