Locust's Claims ‘Sufficient’ to Survive JMBT Motion to Dismiss, Says Opposition

Plaintiff Locust Group invested in defendant Michael Russell’s startup, JMBT Live, owner of the Tilt entertainment platform, “with an expectation that Russell would make progress with JMBT and that the information regarding the progress shared by Russell was accurate,” said Locust’s opposition Monday (docket 1:23-cv-04203) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York to JMBT’s Aug. 8 motion to dismiss (see 2308090041). “Unfortunately, that has not been the case,” said the opposition. “As a result, Locust had to file this lawsuit for fraud and breach of fiduciary duties,” it said. In asking the court to dismiss Locust’s claims, JMBT and Russell ignore Locust’s “well-pled allegations” involving JMBT’s and Russell’s “misrepresentations and scienter,” it said. They ask this court “to make factual determinations at the motion to dismiss stage,” it said. But Locust’s allegations “are more than sufficient to withstand” the defendants’ motion to dismiss, it said. Locust’s main assertion is that JMBT and Russell falsified the status of the company’s contracts and negotiations with prospective content partners (see 2305220037). The JMBT-Russell motion to dismiss contends the lawsuit should never have been filed, and Locust’s complaint can’t identify a single false statement JMBT or Russell made to investors.