- Justin Sun has denied allegations made by Verge magazine over the running of Poloniex
- Christopher Harland-Dunaway accused Sun of stealing customer funds and resisting KYC measures
- Sun rebutted these claims from current and former employees, calling it “fabricated storytelling”
Justin Sun has denied any wrongdoing over his use of the Poloniex exchange, which he partially acquired in 2019. Verge published a lengthy piece entitled The Many Escapes of Justin Sun, where the piece’s author Christopher Harland-Dunaway criticized the actions of the Tron founder on a range of subjects, from keeping ₿300 the company collected through accidental customer deposits and his alleged plans to turn it back into what one employee called a “pirate ship”. Sun came under fire in late 2020 from the same author over alleged threats to employees but denied those charges too.
The many escapes of Justin Sun https://t.co/RAVyr9VXXN pic.twitter.com/V6vV8Fi4B4
— The Verge (@verge) March 10, 2022
Sun Wanted to Return Poloniex to “Gray-area Infamy”
Harland-Dunaway claimed in his piece, which went live yesterday, that Sun’s acquisition of Poloniex was done with the intention of veering away from the incoming regulatory crackdown and instead going back to its “earlier gray-area infamy”, with KYC requirements resisted and anonymous trading allowed.
The piece claims that Sun moved Poloniex to the Seychelles where regulations are looser, which would mean that U.S. customers would not be allowed to be served, a rule that Poloniex allegedly ignored.
The chief criticism is what Poloniex employees referred to as Operation Couch Cushions, which saw Poloniex developers dig around customer accounts for mis-deposited funds that they had written off as lost. The collected amount raised from Operation Couch Cushions was some ₿300, which, according to Harland-Dunaway, Sun said the company should keep, even though it belonged to customers.
Sun Calls Claims “Fabricated Storytelling”
Sun took to Twitter to dispute the litany of charges, denying that Poloniex was now based in the Seychelles, that it served U.S. customers, and that it upheld anything but “the highest standard in safeguarding crypto assets”. The stories, Sun summarized, were “false accusations and fabricated storytelling”:
Initial response to the false accusations and fabricated storytelling of the verge article.
— H.E. Justin Sun 🅣🌞🇬🇩 (@justinsuntron) March 9, 2022
Of course, it’s very easy for Sun to say this, but the proof will be in whether he takes Verge to court over it. Given that the site may be able to call on as many as 15 current and former employees to back up their claims, we suspect this will not happen.
