BIO:
Mr. Masson is a partner based in the Firm’s New York office and focuses his litigation efforts on class actions involving cryptocurrency and digital assets, mass torts, and complex commercial cases. Mr. Masson represents retail and institutional investors, government entities and consumers around the globe. Prior to entering the private sector, Mr. Masson served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan DA’s Office, successfully arguing over 40 appeals in state and federal courts and gaining extensive experience with large-scale government and regulatory investigations. Currently, he oversees the firm’s cryptocurrency litigation practice.
Besides serving as counsel to aggrieved crypto investors, Mr. Masson has also been sought after as an expert in the field of cryptocurrency-related litigation, giving continuing legal education programs on the topic and being quoted in various news publications, including the following:
- Sotheby’s, Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber sued over Bored Ape NFTs, The Times (8/11/23)
- Galaxy’s U.S. Move Risks New Delay From Lawsuit Linked to Luna, Forbes (8/2/23)
- ‘Ripple’ effect from ruling in SEC crypto case could be game-changer for class action defendants, Reuters (7/14/23)
- Featured in German public radio and television broadcast, Billion Dollar Apes – Art, Greed, NFTs, ZDF and DEUTSCHLANDFUNK (6/15/23)
- Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather can’t evade EMAX crypto investors’ claims, judge says, REUTERS (6/7/2023)
- Scott+Scott Beats Boies Schiller to Lead Voyager Class Suit, Law360 (4/19/23)
- Celebrities Who Endorsed Crypto, NFTs Land in Legal Crosshairs After Investor Losses, Wall Street Journal (1/23/23)
- Presented in Emerging Trends in Law – Crypto Litigation: An Update, New York State Bar Association (12/14/22)
- Justin Bieber, Madonna, Adidas and more named in class action cryptocurrency lawsuit, FoxBusiness (12/9/22)
- FTX’s Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady and other celebrity promoters sued by crypto investors, Reuters (11/17/22)
- Collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD sparks bold ‘scheme liability’ suit, Reuters (6/21/22)
- Featured in the ABC program, Four Corners’ episode “Crypto Mania: Behind the hype of cryptocurrencies (5/30/22)”
Mr. Masson’s publications include: The Presidential Right of Publicity, 2010 Boston College Intellectual Property & Technology Forum 012001 and Note, Cracking Open the Golden Door: Revisiting U.S. Asylum Law’s Response To China’s One-Child Policy, 37 Hofstra Law Review 1135 (2009).
AWARDS:
- Super Lawyers “Rising Star” (2015-2019) for class action litigation
CURRENT CASES:
- Ocampo al v. Dfinity USA LLC et al., 21-CV-03843 (Super. Ct. San Mateo Cty.) (alleging the Company and other insiders sold securities as “ICP tokens” without registering with the SEC as required)
- Morgan et. al. v. Constellation, et al., 3`:21-cv-08869 (N.D. Cal.) (alleging the Company improperly denied DAG token holders the ability to swap from the original ERC-20 token to the mainnet token)
- In re Ethereummax Investor Litigation , 2:22-cv-00163 (C.D. Cal.) (alleging that the Company improperly used celebrity endorsements to pump up the trading volume for the EMAX token so that insiders could unload their holdings onto unsuspecting cryptocurrency investors)
- De Ford et al. v. Koutoulas, et. al., 6:22-cv-00652 (M.D. Fla.) (alleging that various individuals conspired to fraudulently promote the LGBCoin and its official sponsorship of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown)
- Combs et al. v. SafeMoon LLC, et al., 2:22-cv-00642 (D. Utah) (alleging the Company and executives repeatedly misled investors about the status of the project and improperly used celebrity promoters to artificially increase the trading volume for the SAFEMOON tokens in order to sell off their pre-sale holdings)
- Pasquinelli et al. v. Humbl, LLC. et al., 3:22-cv-00723 (S.D. Cal.) (alleging that the Company and its CEO made false and misleading statements concerning Humbl’s growth prospects and international partnerships, as well as selling unregistered securities)
- Patterson v. Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. et al., 3:22-cv-03600 (N.D. Cal.) (alleging the Company and its agents conspired to mislead investors about the stability and sustainability of its two largest digital assets: UST and LUNA, which were also sold as unregistered securities along with other tokens in the Terra ecosystem).
- Goines v. Celsius Network, LLC et al., 2:22-cv-04560 (D.N.J.) (alleging that executives at crypto exchange Celsius sold interest bearing savings accounts and native CEL tokens without registering them first with the SEC)
- Roberts et al. v. Ehrlich et al., 1:22-cv-09590 (S.D.N.Y.) (alleging that executives at crypto exchange Voyager improperly sold unregistered securities to retail investors)
- Real et al. v. Yuga Labs, LLC et al., 2:22-cv-08909 (C.D. Cal.) (alleging the Company and its executives conspired with high-profile celebrity promotors and crypto payment service Moonpay to mislead investors into purchasing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and ApeCoin tokens)
REPRESENTATIVE CASES:
- In re LendingClub Corp. Shareholder Litig. ($125 million federal and state joint settlement)
- In re FireEye, Inc. Securities Litig. ($10.3 million settlement)
- In re King Digital Entertainment plc Shareholder Litig. ($18.5 million settlement)
- In re Celestica Inc. ($30 million settlement)
- People v. McKelvey (upheld 75-year sentence for serial rapist preying on homeless women)
- People v. Espinal (affirming murder-for-hire and conspiracy convictions for high ranking member of a large-scale cocaine trafficking operation)