cryptopotato.com
In July 2020, Pierce announced he would participate in the 2020 US Presidential elections as an independent candidate. He was recently nominated as a presidential candidate by the Independence Party of New York due to the new ballot threshold law that puts the party under threat.
Interestingly, Pierce does not hope to win the upcoming election. Speaking to the New York Post, he noted that what is more important is to “jump-start a viable third-party movement” for future endeavors.
“In the year 2020, it is not our goal to win the general election. Our goal is to lay the groundwork for the future. I … turn 40 in November. I’m in this for at least the next 40 years. Time is on my side,” he said.
Served While Campaigning
According to the video footage shared on Twitter by US attorney James Koutoulas, Pierce received the court documents while he was campaigning in New York for the upcoming election.
“Our team served @brockpierce for securities fraud at his rally in NYC.
Pro tip- when you’re trying to avoid getting served for a multi B fraud case, maybe lay off outlandish presidential campaigns,” Koutoulas said, tweeting about the development.
The class action, served by Koutoulas’ legal team, is against the former executives and founders of Block.one, the blockchain company behind cryptocurrency project EOS. Pierce co-founded Block and was known for his role with the EOS token.
EOS conducted its ICO from June 2017 to June 2018, with over $4 billion raised from investors, making it one of the most successful ICO projects.
Not The First
This is not the first time Block is facing a securities-related class action. In September 2019, the blockchain company was hammered by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a $24 million fine for selling unregistered securities during the EOS ICO period.
Pierce, as a venture capitalist with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, according to Forbes, has also co-founded several blockchain companies, including Tether and Blockchain Capital.