--- title: "The customer civil case and preserved claims" language: en canonical: https://osint.v3rta.com/dossiers/linqto/customer-litigation/ as_of: 2026-10-09 keywords: ["Linqto","Liquidshares","Linqto Capital","private market investments","series interests","Chapter 11","customer recovery plan","Sandton financing","Forge trustee dispute","corporate governance","securities proceedings"] --- # The customer civil case and preserved claims **Question.** Who sued whom, and what procedural outcomes are retained? **Answer.** The customer case added individuals and Rainmaker after its original filing. Pleaded violations remain allegations, while counsel and class-claim rights changed. ## The plaintiffs and amended defendants - Analysis: Lori Maxwell and Anthony DeLuccia filed the original July 9, 2025 civil complaint against Sarris through John Deaton. The September 17 order appointed the Linqto Investors group as lead plaintiff and Scott+Scott with Catherine Pratsinakis of Dilworth Paxson as co-lead counsel. The November 17 amendment changed the lead plaintiffs and added defendants; it identifies A.O.H. Driedijk Holding and Jaimin Bhatt as Liquidshares-unit purchasers. [s-d146] [s-d147] - Attributed: A.O.H. Driedijk Holding and Bhatt's amended complaint identifies them as purchasers of Liquidshares series units and pleads federal and state securities and California unfair-competition claims against individuals and Rainmaker. [s-d147] - Qualification: The asserted statutory violations remain civil allegations; the plan preserves claim rights and objections. - Analysis: The amended complaint names Sarris, Endoso, Paul, Moran, Nurani, Slemmer, Jiang, Davis, Reed, Henderson and Rainmaker Securities. It does not name the Linqto corporate debtors as defendants in that pleading. Co-defendant status establishes procedural participation, not a business partnership or shared culpability. [s-d146] - Analysis: Plaintiffs allege misleading share descriptions, excessive or undisclosed markups, customer-accreditation defects and Rainmaker’s paid supervisory services. They cite company-reported transaction totals exceeding $170 million in December 2022, $300 million in December 2023 and $460 million in September 2024. These are their pleaded account and reported transaction measures, not judicial findings or audited revenue. [s-d147] ## Office allegations and an identity conflict - Analysis: The complaint dates Moran’s compliance role to November 2021–December 2024, Nurani’s strategy role to 2020–March 2025 with board service March–May 2025, and Paul’s Liquidshares finance/administration role to May 2020–May 2025. It separately alleges Endoso’s leadership roles and Rainmaker affiliation during at least 2020–2022. These source-specific capacities and dates do not themselves establish substantive liability. Endoso’s later personal guilty plea does not adjudicate those civil allegations or another defendant’s liability. [s-d147] - Analysis: Davis’s alleged Linqto directorship is expressly disputed. The SOFA and complaint give an April 2024–January 2025 tenure, while Davis-associated Fifth Era Acquisition Corp. I says she was not a Linqto director in 2024–2025 and seeks dismissal. The issuer’s denial and the earlier records remain in conflict; neither resolves it by itself. [s-d147] [s-d183] [s-d18] ## Counsel and rights after confirmation - Analysis: Sarris sought Deaton’s disqualification July 17, 2025. The October 31 order closed the motion as moot after Deaton withdrew; it did not decide the alleged conflict on its merits. Other docket entries record service on Endoso December 16, 2025 and Aurora Cassirer’s July 28, 2026 appearance, while a December 2025 order extended Sarris’s response deadline pending service on new defendants. The retained docket’s last known filing date is October 2, 2026, rather than a merits outcome. [s-d146] [s-d165] - Analysis: The bankruptcy confirmation order preserved potential class-claim allowance and additional non-rescission securities damages, subject to objections, as well as SEC powers against nondebtors. Linqto’s August 5, 2026 statement separately reports denial of consolidated Circle-share turnover motions as improper and procedurally defective after a June hearing. That reported procedural outcome cannot decide every investor’s equitable-title claim. [s-d144] [s-d152] ## Sources - [s-d146] Court record source · s-d146 - [s-d147] Court record source · s-d147 - [s-d183] Fifth Era Acquisition Corp. I Form 10-K for 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR, 2026 - [s-d18] Court record source · s-d18 - [s-d165] Court record source · s-d165 - [s-d144] Court record source · s-d144 - [s-d152] Company statement source · s-d152