Gemini reaches settlement with IRA Financial Trust over $36M exploit

Judge Analisa Torres dismissed a lawsuit filed by IRA Financial Trust against Gemini Trust with prejudice after the parties said they had agreed on a settlement.
Judge Analisa Torres dismissed a lawsuit filed by IRA Financial Trust against Gemini Trust with prejudice after the parties said they had agreed on a settlement.

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has reached an agreement with retirement and pension platform IRA Financial Trust, concluding a lawsuit initially filed in 2022.

In a July 18 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Analisa Torres dismissed the case filed by IRA Financial Trust with prejudice after the firm and Gemini Trust said they had agreed on a settlement. The lawsuit, initially brought by IRA in June 2022, alleged that Gemini misrepresented security protections.

Source: SDNY

Specifically, IRA claimed Gemini’s lack of transparency on its security protocols made the company responsible for a February 2022 exploit in which a bad actor removed roughly $36 million in crypto. According to the platform, hackers “gain[ed] control of IRA’s master key,” allowing them to transfer “tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin and Ether into a single customer retirement account, and then withdrawing all such assets.” A Gemini spokesperson told Cointelegraph at the time that the company rejected the allegations in the lawsuit. 

The July 18 did not include details on the settlement. Cointelegraph reached out to Gemini for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Related: Gemini to return at least $1.1B to Earn customers in settlement with NYDFS

The civil case concluded after Gemini reached settlements with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the New York Attorney General’s office over the use of the Gemini Earn program. In June, New York Attorney General Letitia James recovered roughly $50 million from Gemini, and the exchange agreed to return $1.1 billion to Earn users as part of an agreement with the NYDFS.

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