Caitlyn Jenner memecoin buyers will continue their legal fight against the ex-Olympian after a judge threw out the case

The lawyer for a group of Caitlyn Jenner memecoin buyers said they will continue their legal fight against the ex-Olympian after a judge threw out the case

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Caitlyn Jenner over her namesake memecoin, but allowed the case to be amended and continue.

California District Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. said in a motion filed on May 9 that it was “sufficient to conclude that all nine causes of action are deficient” and sided with Jenner in dismissing the suit in its entirety for failure to state a claim.

He allowed the class group to amend its suit, which must be filed by May 23, but warned it had “to be more focused and judiciously pleaded” than the original.

A lawyer for the class group, Fitzgerald Monroe Flynn PC partner Jack Fitzgerald, told Cointelegraph it was “pleased the Court recognized we may be able to state some claims against the defendants, and intend to amend and press forward with the case.”

Jenner and her manager, Sophia Hutchins, were sued in November by a group that bought the Caitlyn Jenner (JENNER) token and accused them of having “fraudulently solicited financially unsophisticated investors” to the token, which they alleged was an unregistered security.

Lee Greenfield, a UK citizen, was added as the lead plaintiff in January and claimed he lost over $40,000 buying JENNER. But the court found, for a start, that claims of securities law violations couldn’t stand as it wasn’t alleged that his JENNER buys took place in the US, as the law requires, and gave “scant details” about the purchases.

“The complaint fails to allege that, during the relevant time period, any of Greenfield’s transactions took place in the United States or that defendants' alleged scheme to defraud used the U.S. mails, telephone, or other instrumentality of interstate commerce,” Judge Blumenfeld wrote in the ruling, seen by Cointelegraph.

He also said the complaint failed to state a claim for violation of California securities law as it wasn’t alleged that Jenner had any substantial nexus with the state.

The judge further dismissed a claim for violation of a California statute that prohibits an investment contract with a foreign country or state unless it is registered.

“The complaint does not allege that any of the investment contracts for the $JENNER tokens were made in California or that defendants had any substantial nexus with California in connection with the alleged offering of the $JENNER tokens,” he wrote.

Court dismisses all claims by JENNER tokenholders

In all, Judge Blumenfeld dismissed a further eight claims the class group brought in an amended complaint filed in February, which included accusations that Jenner and Hutchins either made misleading statements, sold unregistered securities, or committed various fraud.

Judge Blumenfeld said the suit failed to allege that Jenner sold the token through a prospectus that contained an untrue statement, as “Greenfield admits that the $JENNER tokens were not sold through a prospectus.”

The court also tossed a common-law fraud accusation, saying the complaint alleged omitted information and noted various X, formerly Twitter, posts by Jenner “stating that she would continue to support the tokens,” but it did not identify which of the statements related to the fraud claim.

The group also accused Hutchins of aiding and abetting Jenner’s allegedly fraudulent conduct, but Judge Blumenfeld said that claim failed as the complaint “does not adequately allege any viable fraud claim.”

In a footnote, Judge Blumenfeld said Jenner and the class group disputed whether the JENNER token was a security, but he was not going to decide at this stage as the “securities claims fail on other grounds.”

“Because the determination of whether the tokens are securities is fact-dependent and may be affected by an amended pleading, the Court declines to resolve that issue at this stage and instead assumes without deciding that the tokens are securities subject to the federal securities laws,” he wrote.

The class group is now allowed to amend its suit and refile it by May 23.

Jenner’s namesake token first launched in May 2024 via Pump.fun on the Solana (SOL) blockchain but was soon embroiled in controversy after Jenner and other memecoin launching celebrities claimed collaborator Sahil Arora scammed them.

The ex-Olympian later relaunched the token on Ethereum (ETH), which the class group claimed tanked the value of the original Solana token, but gave Jenner the benefit of collecting a 3% fee on every transaction.

The JENNER token has lost essentially all its value since launch. CoinGecko figures show its market value has crashed to around $58,775 from a June 3 peak of nearly $7.5 million. The token has seen just $61.10 worth of trading volume over the last day.