Swedish attorney Lars Olofsson filed a class action suit against Facebook and Instagram parent Meta in connection with the cannabis Ponzi scheme Juicy Fields. Plaintiffs in the case number more than 800 individuals from 50 countries.
The suit alleges that Meta was grossly negligent and “failed to control who they allowed to use the platforms, and in direct violation of Meta’s own terms of service.” Charges filed against Meta include Swedish penal code violations for fraud, aggravated fraud, as well as aiding and abetting fraud and aggravated fraud.
Olofsson filed suit in district court in Luleå, Sweden, because Meta has a global server center located in the area.
“This is where the crime has been committed because it is from these servers that the clients have been exposed to Juicy Fields’ scam,” he said.
After being fined and banned from trading by German finance regulator BaFin in June, Juicy Fields was shut down by mid-July. According to Olofsson, up to 2 billion euro is missing from investors accounts, affecting thousands in countries all over the world but particularly in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, and Malta.
As precedent for holding large tech platforms responsible for due diligence regarding illegal activities by their affiliates, advertisers, or clients, Olofsson previously cited a case in which the plaintiff accused credit card company VISA with providing payment processing for distribution of child pornography on adult media…
