TL;DR
- Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed all of Burwick Law’s claims against Solana Labs, the Foundation, and their executives in the Pump.fun case.
- RICO charges against Baton Corporation and its executives for fraud, illegal gambling, and unlicensed money transmission were confirmed.
- The judge determined that memecoins FRED and GRIFFAIN do not qualify as securities under the Howey Test for failing to constitute a “common enterprise.”
Judge Colleen McMahon formally dismissed the claims filed by Burwick Law against Solana Labs, Solana Foundation, and their executives in the context of the class action lawsuit against the memecoin platform Pump.fun. The decision was recorded in a court filing, in which McMahon ruled on a series of motions to dismiss raised by the defendants.
The ruling did not close the case entirely. The charges under the RICO statute — which accuse Baton Corporation, parent company of Pump.fun, and its executives Noah Bernhard Hugo Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler of wire fraud, illegal gambling, and unlicensed money transmission — were sustained for plaintiffs Carnahan and Okafor. However, the RICO charges brought by plaintiff Aguilar were dismissed.
Solana Labs Steps Out of the Case
The exclusion of Solana Labs and Solana Foundation closes a line of attack that Burwick Law had introduced more than a year ago. The firm argued that both entities cooperated to circumvent United States securities laws and extract capital from the local market, and that the network’s infrastructure offered no investor protections or disclosure obligations. Jito Labs, which had also been named as a defendant, was voluntarily withdrawn by Burwick Law months before this ruling.
FRED and GRIFFAIN: the Limits of the Howey Test
McMahon also rejected the charges for securities law violations, determining that memecoins FRED and GRIFFAIN do not constitute a “common enterprise” and therefore do not satisfy the Howey Test. Attorney Ariel Givner, founder of a firm specializing in crypto law, clarified that this decision does not mean that all memecoins are exempt from being classified as securities, but that the criterion applies only when the asset does not offer a shared objective of collective gains.
Additionally, the judge required Burwick Law to explain, before September 10, why it failed to serve 25 unnamed influencers accused of promoting Pump.fun tokens while concealing their compensation and prior positions in those assets. Among them is the influencer identified as “Scooter,” who threatened to sue the firm for defamation.
