The fight between the SEC and private messenger Telegram continues and so far the US financial markets regulator seems to have an upper hand. In the latest development, Telegram has agreed to submit requested documents about its correspondence with its 2018 ICO investors in which the company raised $1.7 billion.
The requested documents include emails sent to the investors, the Gram sale agreement, bank records, and any other documentation related to the token sale.
The SEC requested through the court in February while preparing the case against Telegram and was granted the request. Telegram, however, has been thus far uncooperative towards the court’s advice.
According to a report by InnerCity Press, Telegram states that it will deliver the “communications” documents by the 20th of this month.
“The parties shall meet and confer regarding the SEC’s discovery requests dated February 4, 2020. Telegram agrees not to object to the discovery requests on the ground of timeliness but otherwise expressly reserves all rights and objections,” Telegram wrote to the court this week.
This latest development makes it easier for the SEC to prepare a more thorough case against the Russia-based messaging platform in regards to the sale of its Grams cryptocurrency.
Grams were created as native cryptos to be used on the complementary TON network which was to launch on October 31st.
The SEC secured a temporary restraining order in October last year which enabled it to halt the launch of TON. In March this year, New York District Judge P. Kevin Castel sided with the SEC which claimed that Telegram had sold illegal securities to American investors and asked the company to refund investors their funds.
Telegram has yet to refund any investor and instead has offered the investors a chance to make more money if they choose to keep the funds with the company another 12 months.
According to Telegram, if the investors choose to ‘loan’ them the funds, they will be rewarded 110% of their initial investment instead of 72% that is due at the moment.
Earlier this week, Crypto Economy reported that Telegram revised this offer to reflect that American investors will only be paid in fiat currency as opposed to their global counterparts who will be able to redeem their ROI in either the promised Gram tokens or any other cryptocurrency they will deem fit when the loan period expires on April 30th, 2021.
