A US federal judge has allowed new evidence to be added to a massive class action lawsuit related to Solana-based memecoin platform Pump.fun.
This happened after a whistleblower resurfaced with nearly 5,000 internal chat messages that, according to plaintiffs, shed new light on alleged insider trading and transaction manipulation.
In an order dated December 9, 2025 submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Colleen McMahon granted plaintiffs permission to amend and refile their complaint against Pump.fun, MEV infrastructure company Jito Labs, the Solana Foundation, Solana Labs and related executives.
Retail Losses and Insider Priority Alleged in Pump.fun MEV Lawsuit
The decision clears the way for the case to move forward with extensive factual allegations focused on maximum extractable value, or MEV.
This controversial practice allows validators or advanced traders to make a profit by reordering transactions within a blockchain block.
The lawsuit was filed by Diego Aguilar, Kendall Carnahan, and lead plaintiff Michael Okafor on behalf of investors who purchased tokens launched on Pump.fun between March 1, 2024 and July 23, 2025 and later suffered losses.
Plaintiffs allege that the defendants operated what they describe as a coordinated “Pump Enterprise” that secretly gave insiders priority access to newly launched tokens, while promoting these launches to the public as fair and resistant to carpet pulling.
According to the complaint, Solana Labs’ validator infrastructure allegedly enabled auditing of transaction orders, while tools developed by Jito Labs allowed certain participants to pay for priority execution.
Pump.fun is accused of acting as the public-facing venue that launched the tokens, collecting fees on each transaction and promoting an honest launch story, despite allegedly knowing that insiders had structural advantages.
Plaintiffs say insiders bought tokens at low prices before public trading, triggering rapid price increases via automated bonding curves and requiring retail buyers to absorb losses once insiders pulled out.
Judge McMahon said the new evidence, provided by a confidential informant who reappeared in September 2025, was not previously available and that the plaintiffs have acted diligently in their efforts to amend their record.
However, she denied a request to file additional materials under seal and out of sight of the defendants, citing concerns about fairness and transparency.
Under the court’s schedule, plaintiffs must file their second amended complaint by December 19, with motions to dismiss no later than January 23, 2026.
After Ethereum, Solana: MEV is now facing a growing legal reckoning
The case builds on an earlier lawsuit filed in July that accused Pump.fun of operating an illegal “meme coin casino” that allegedly generated more than $722 million in revenue and caused between $4 billion and $5.5 billion in losses to retailers.
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— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) June 17, 2025
According to court filings, the platform processes tens of billions of dollars in cumulative trading volume and launches tens of thousands of tokens daily, while the vast majority of user addresses fail to realize meaningful profits.
At the center of the dispute is MEV, a practice that is becoming increasingly common among major blockchains.
MEV involves making profits by influencing the order in which transactions are processed, often through front-running or sandwich attacks.
Research cited in recent lawsuits and industry reports shows that MEV bots are now taking up a significant portion of block space on Solana and Ethereum-based networks, contributing to higher costs and uneven execution outcomes for regular users.
MEV bot spam is now the main barrier to blockchain scalability and consumes most new throughput on Ethereum rollups and Solana.#MEV #Blockchainscalabilityhttps://t.co/kNRiwwORsU
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) June 17, 2025
Legal scrutiny surrounding MEV has intensified following criminal cases related to similar tactics.
In a closely watched case, two MIT-educated brothers, Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, were charged with bank fraud and money laundering after allegedly exploiting Ethereum’s validator layer to extract $25 million in seconds.
Although a jury later failed to reach a verdict, leading to a mistrial, the case marked the first criminal prosecution targeting MEV manipulation and demonstrates the difficulty courts face in applying traditional fraud statutes to blockchain mechanisms.
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