APERTUM FOUNDATION AND JOSIP HEIT WIN MAJOR SECURITIES LAWSUIT AGAINST TEXAS REGULATOR
Law firm Quinn Emanuel Announces Dismissal of All Claims
NEW YORK, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital asset technology developer The Apertum Foundation and its senior advisor, Josip Heit, have prevailed in their litigation against the Texas State Securities Board. The Securities Board has dismissed all claims against the Foundation and Mr. Heit and has withdrawn its prior cease-and-desist order.
The Apertum Foundation is the developer of the Apertum blockchain and its native cryptocurrency token. In April 2025, the Texas Securities Board issued a cease-and-desist order claiming that the Apertum token was an unregistered security. On behalf of the Apertum Foundation and Mr. Heit, Quinn Emanuel challenged the order as an abuse of the Securities Board's jurisdiction, principally on the basis that the Apertum token is not a security under U.S. federal law or the Texas Securities Act. Neither the token itself nor the Apertum Foundation's DAO1 decentralized finance (DeFi) platform is or offers an investment contract within the meaning of the securities laws.
"This dismissal is a big win for the Apertum Foundation and Mr. Heit," said Avi Perry, co-Chair of the Securities Litigation Group at Quinn Emanuel. "This case should never have been brought, and we fought hard to reach the right result. The Texas Securities Board's allegations were incorrect, and we are thrilled for our clients that the meritless cease-and-desist order against them has been withdrawn in its entirety. We credit the Securities Board for acknowledging its error and dismissing this case."
"From Day One, the Apertum Foundation has offered a compliant, safe platform and cutting-edge technology," said Josip Heit, senior advisor to the Foundation. "We promised to defend ourselves aggressively against the Texas Securities Board's mistaken allegations, and we have now been vindicated. This dismissal confirms we did nothing wrong. We will continue to offer transformative technology to our users and to work with our lawyers to comply with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate. Thank you to our users for standing with us."
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP is a 1000+ lawyer business litigation firm—the largest in the world devoted solely to business litigation and arbitration with 34 global office locations. Surveys of major companies around the world have named it the "most feared" law firm in the world three times. Firm lawyers have tried over 2,500 cases, winning 86% of them. When representing defendants, Quinn Emanuel's trial experience gets better settlements or defense verdicts. When representing plaintiffs, Quinn Emanuel lawyers have won nearly $80 billion in judgments and settlements. Quinn Emanuel has also obtained seven nine-figure jury verdicts, four 10-figure jury verdicts, 51 nine-figure settlements, and 20 10-figure settlements.
Quinn Emanuel has been named the No. 1 "most feared" law firm by The BTI Consulting Group three times in its annual "Most Feared Law Firms in Litigation" guide, in which in-house counsel named 46 firms they "want to steer clear of" when it comes to litigation. The American Lawyer named Quinn Emanuel the top IP litigation firm in the U.S. and the firm as one of the top six commercial litigation firms in the country. The UK legal periodical, The Lawyer named us "International Firm of the Year." Law360 has most recently selected us as having Banking, Class Action, International Arbitration, and Trials "Practice Groups of the Year." Managing IP twice recognized us as having the "Best ITC Litigation Practice" and honored us with the "Patent Contentious West" award. Legal Business has named us "US Law Firm of the Year" three times, and our German offices have twice been named both "IP Litigation Firm of the Year" and "Patent Litigation Firm of the Year" by JUVE, Germany's most prestigious legal publication. Global Investigations Review, a leading legal periodical covering global white-collar investigations, named us the "Most Impressive Investigations Practice of the Year." Global Arbitration Review named us the 3rd best arbitration practice in the world. Global Competition Review named our antitrust and competition practice among the "25 Global Elite," and has included us in their list of the world's top 10 competition litigation practices.
SOURCE Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
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