According to an announcement made by Bitcoin IRA, a federal judge of the South Dakota district court has ordered against Kingdom Trust Company, while also granting Bitcoin IRA’s request for emergency injunctive relief for the protection of its clients. The lawsuit had been filed over Kingdom Trust refusing to transfer custody of IRA (individual retirement account) customer holdings to BitGo. The official ruling reads,
“Kingdom Trust is ordered to fully restore to the condition and functionality existing prior to August 21, 2019, Alternative IRA Services LLC’s (Bitcoin IRA) access to account holder data of the accounts to which Bitcoin IRA is the account designated representative by the account holder, and account holder access to Bitcoin IRA’s online platform, thereby allowing the account holders to once again self-direct their retirement accounts online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
Kingdom Trust was already in the news after yesterday, in collaboration with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and alternative assets investment firm Regal Assets, it announced that the firm would be jointly offering cryptocurrency-based IRAs and 401K accounts in the United States.
After signing a referral agreement with Kingdom Trust on September 5, 2018, Bitcoin IRA had lodged a complaint against them on August 26, 2019. The complaint stated that Kingdom Trust delayed and obstructed its account holders’ requests to transfer IRA assets to Digital IRA, while continuing to charge account holders monthly fees during the period of delay and intentionally causing harm to Digital IRA as a competitor.
Previously, on August 22, 2019, Kingdom Trust had also filed a lawsuit against Digital IRA, Alternative IRA Services (Bitcoin IRA), their shared CEO Camilo Conch, COO Chris Kline, BitGo, as well as its cryptocurrency custodial affiliate company, BitGo Trust. The lawsuit had alleged that the companies improperly obtained Kingdom Trust’s trade secrets and conspired to deceive and misappropriate Kingdom Trust clients.
The Federal judge ruled, “Kingdom Trust unilaterally terminated customers’ access to their own account data on Bitcoin IRA’s website, and it has not shown that the interference is justified.”
As a result, Kingdom Trust has been ordered to fully restore data access to affected Bitcoin IRA clients and reinstate Bitcoin IRA’s ADR status as their chosen Account Designated Representative.
