Emily Avazian

Team Led by Greenberg Glusker Prevails, Allowing Federal Communications Act Case Against AT&T to Proceed

Michael Terpin’s seven-year battle to hold AT&T Mobility, LLC (“AT&T”) responsible for causing over $24 million in cryptocurrency losses will finally be heard by a jury this coming year. On July 16, 2025, the District Court for the Central District of California denied the bulk of AT&T’s motion for summary judgment, noting that numerous questions of fact needed to be decided by a jury on Terpin’s claims that AT&T violated the Federal Communications Act (FCA) by turning over control of his phone to a hacker. The Court set the matter for trial on March 3, 2026.

Terpin’s claims against AT&T in his 2018 lawsuit are based on an incident in January of that year when he fell victim to a “SIM swap” where AT&T turned control of his mobile phone over to a hacker who accessed password reset messages intended for Terpin to gain access to Terpin’s private information and steal his cryptocurrency. For almost seven years since Terpin filed his lawsuit, AT&T has attempted to avoid responsibility for Mr. Terpin’s losses by blaming them on Mr. Terpin and third parties.

Most recently, AT&T brought a second motion for summary judgment, denying that there was any causal connection between its conduct and Mr. Terpin’s losses. In its July 16, 2025 Order (“Order”), the Court definitively dismissed AT&T’s desperate attempt to avoid responsibility. In the Order, the Court ruled that “AT&T remains liable for its own conduct,” including its “alleged failure to protect the confidentiality of CPNI [sensitive customer proprietary network information protected by the FCA)], follow its own security procedures, supervise its employees, comply with regulations, and prevent employees from bypassing authentication procedures” to gain access to his account.

AT&T’s last-ditch effort to prevent a jury from hearing Terpin’s claims came after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year in a landmark decision that Terpin’s claim under the FCA that AT&T had permitted access to his proprietary and private information, which AT&T had previously moved to dismiss, could go forward. In the Order, the court found that there were sufficient facts for a jury to find that AT&T’s SIM swap caused Terpin’s losses. The court found specifically that the losses were foreseeable to AT&T “because Terpin previously reported to AT&T in 2017 that he was the victim of a fraudulent SIM swap resulting in the loss of cryptocurrency.”

“After a seven-year battle, Mr. Terpin will have his opportunity to have the Los Angeles federal jury hold AT&T accountable for its massive breach of his cell phone security and the foreseeable loss of $24 million of his cryptocurrency,” says Greenberg Glusker’s Pierce O’Donnell, lead counsel on this case. “We look forward to presenting our case to Mr. Terpin’s peers,” he concludes.

Terpin anticipates having a jury vindicate the privacy rights of mobile telephone customers under the FCA by holding AT&T accountable for violating what the court found was AT&T’s “statutory obligation under the FCA to Terpin as an AT&T customer.”

The case is co-counseled by Greenberg Glusker and Tim Toohey, Founder and Partner at Timothy J. Toohey, a Professional Corporation. Additionally, both Paul Blechner and Emily Avazian have played a significant role in the case’s development and litigation over the past several years.

Greenberg Glusker has been litigating SIM swapping cases since 2018 and is the preeminent law firm addressing SIM swapping, cryptocurrency malfeasance, and blockchain-related legal issues, combining deep expertise in litigation, intellectual property, finance, and regulatory compliance.