Judge Dismisses Skycoin Founder’s Civil RICO, Trade Secret Suit

The founder of Skycoin failed to sufficiently allege a RICO or Defend Trade Secrets Act claim against a former consultant he alleged extorted him for millions of dollars and conspired to destroy the market for his cryptocurrency.

Brandon Smietana’s claims collapsed when he failed to show in his third amended complaint that he “took reasonable means to maintain secrecy over” his alleged hardware and software trade secrets, and failed to demonstrate a pattern of racketeering activity by Bradford Stephens, Judge Sara L. Ellis, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, said Tuesday. Smietana’s federal claims ...