The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied a request for info concerning the Tezos blockchain undertaking, citing an exemption usually utilized to data gathered for regulation enforcement actions.

The denial letter was addressed to lawyer David Silver of the SilverMiller regulation agency and dated Feb. 6, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request he submitted at first of the month. Silver is representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in November, one of a number of such instances filed within the wake of Tezos’ $232 million ICO from final 12 months.

According to a duplicate of the letter obtained by CoinDesk, the U.S. securities regulator withheld “information concerning Tezos” citing Exemption 7(A), which permits for exemptions within the case of enforcement actions.

The letter doesn’t state that Tezos is underneath investigation by the SEC.

The SEC wrote:

“This exemption protects from disclosure records compiled for law enforcement purposes, the release of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement activities. Since Exemption 7(A) protects the records from disclosure, we have not determined if other exemptions apply. Therefore, we reserve the right to assert other exemptions when Exemption 7(A) no longer applies.”

In Silver’s interpretation, the letter proves that the SEC is actively investigating the blockchain undertaking, which has been roiled by a governance disaster in current months.

“Consistent with what [SEC chair] Jay Clayton said at the Senate hearing this week, I’m happy to learn that the SEC is investigating Tezos, as many clients are going to eventually learn that their investments are worthless,” he instructed CoinDesk. Silver has additionally filed lawsuits on behalf of consumers of the now-defunct cryptocurrency change Cryptsy and bitcoin miner Giga Watt.

However, the letter goes on to say that as a matter of coverage, the SEC “does not disclose the existence or non-existence of an investigation or information gathered unless made a matter of public record in proceedings brought before the Commission or in the courts.”

A consultant for Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, the founders of Tezos, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

SEC emblem picture through Shutterstock 

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