The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Green United, LLC, its founder Wright W. Thurston, and a promoter, Kristoffer A. Krohn, with allegedly defrauding investors in connection with an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities. The SEC noted that Krohn is a repeat offencer, who allegedly acted as an unregistered securities broker making misrepresentations.
The SEC claims that Green United raised at least $18 million in an unregistered security offering for a token labeled Green pitched as using a Green Blockchain.
Green United ostensibly would leverage its resources to operate the investors’ “Green Boxes” and “Green Nodes” and distribute to each investor GREEN tokens earned through the mining operation. Defendants also apparently led investors to believe that Green United intended to develop the Green Blockchain to create a “public global decentralized power grid,”
The SEC’s complaint alleges that investors were led to believe that the value of GREEN could increase if Green United succeeded in creating the decentralized power grid.
Instead, the SEC claims that Green mined Bitcoin but did not transfer any crypto to investors.
The SEC’s complaint charges Green United, Thurston, and Krohn with violating various sections of the Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act, and seeks permanent and conduct-based injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and penalties against all defendants.
The SEC’s complaint also names True North United Investments, LLC and Block Brothers, LLC as relief defendants.