WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Central Bank of Venezuela has asked a U.S. District Court to reject a motion by DolarToday seeking to dismiss a lawsuit charging the rogue website with misrepresenting and falsifying Venezuela's national currency rates.
The brief filed by law firm Squire Patton Boggs Wednesday asks the court to deny the website's motion to dismiss in its entirety. DolarToday's lawyers filed their motion to dismiss in December in response to the lawsuit the Central Bank filed last October.
The Central Bank's brief shows that DolarToday's motion is rife with factual inaccuracies and unproven claims. Rather than answer the facts of the case, the Central Bank's brief states, the defendants - Venezuelan expatriates living in the United States - rely simply on spurious legal arguments and bombastic claims.
In one instance, DolarToday's lawyers claimed the purpose of the Central Bank's lawsuit is "to silence anyone who publishes information about the precarious state of the Venezuelan economy." But the suit expressly cautions that it does not seek to shut down the site or prevent it from publishing any anti-government articles and opinions.
Rather, the suit seeks to end the site's primary function: Disseminating a false bolívar-to-dollar exchange rate. It also alleges that the defendants are using their manufactured currency rate to personally profit from its exaggerated inflation of the Venezuelan bolívar.
"The Defendants' flippant disregard of decades-old legal precedent shows how far they'll go to use DolarToday for their own benefit," said Adam Fox, a Squire Patton Boggs attorney representing the Central Bank. "We urge the court to consider the case on its legal and factual merit, not the false provocations of those who continue to damage their own country's economy and the Central Bank."
The Central Bank's lawsuit alleges that DolarToday is contributing to the damage of Venezuela's economy by worsening inflationary pressures, diminishing the purchasing power of the Venezuelan people and undermining the authority of the bank. The lawsuit also alleges that the owners of DolarToday, in addition to causing unrest in Venezuela, are also reaping personal financial gain from the currency manipulation promoted by the website.
DolarToday operates through a limited liability company organized in Delaware.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/venezuelas-central-bank-asks-us-court-to-uphold-lawsuit-against-rogue-website-dolartoday-for-publishing-false-currency-rates-300208468.html
SOURCE Squire Patton Boggs
