A New York attorney who released funds of a crypto investment firm that was reserved for buying Bitcoin has been ordered to pay the firm $5.2M.
Attorney Aaron Etra is on the catch for $4.6M to Benthos Master fund, an investment firm located in San Francisco. The total judgment, including accruing interest, was $5.255M, as established by Alison J. Nathan, United States federal judge.
This judgment came after the attorney was absent for an April court date in new york with an arbitration session confirmed. The failure to show up was a major factor in the judge ruling in favour of Escrow.
The U.S judge says he has himself to blame. Despite the arbitration notice received, and the fact that he was plainly required to arbitrate any disputes under the Agreement of Escrow, he still chose to be absent to present evidence.
This agreement was around 2018 when the firm offered help Etra to serve as an agent for Escrow for its Bitcoin purchases. Both parties signed the Bitcoin agreement with valkyrie Group, an outfit assigned to search for Third parties who want to sell their crypto assets.
As at that time, Benthos had initially planned to buy $5M in Bitcoin, which is approximately 10,000 coins and deposited it into the Escrow fund. Etra transferred a total of $4.6M of the Bitcoin fund in August 2018 without Benthos's approval.
Benthos told Etra multiple times to stop moving money out of the fund and explain what happened to the $4.6M. The attorney would have to provide documents and information relating to the missing funds according to the court ruling. Etra returned the remaining 400,000 dollars, and he also produced records of his dealings with Bitcoin traders.
Source: Cointelegraph
