Linqto Co-Founder Sued for 60% Markup Fraud Scheme

Lawyer John E. Deaton, representing thousands of retail investors, has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit against William Sarris, the co-founder and former CEO of Linqto. The lawsuit alleges that Sarris orchestrated a multi-year fraud scheme on the Linqto platform, involving the sale of shares in private companies such as Ripple, Uphold, and Kraken through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). These sales allegedly included undisclosed markups as high as 60%, misleading waiver statements, and unlicensed sales practices.

The complaint details that Sarris received internal legal memoranda in 2023 and 2024, which explicitly warned that these issuance practices violated multiple SEC and FINRA regulations. These violations included acting as an unregistered broker-dealer and operating an unregistered investment company. Despite these warnings, Sarris chose to ignore them, continuing the fraudulent activities.

Deaton emphasized that this lawsuit is directed personally against Sarris and is not subject to the limitations of bankruptcy protection. This legal action aims to hold Sarris accountable for his alleged role in the fraudulent activities, seeking justice for the retail investors who were misled and financially harmed by the scheme.