Tagged: enforcement

May 4, 2022 @ 4:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced charges and a court-ordered asset freeze against two individuals who allegedly generated over $12 million by engaging in a ploy to “deceptively obtain stock pick information” from Motley Fool subscription services before it was disseminated to its… Read More

May 4, 2022 @ 3:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

Two of the most successful investment crowdfunding platforms, Wefunder and StartEngine, have been hit with penalties by FINRA. According to a statement by FINRA, Wefunder has been assessed with a $1.4 million fine and StartEngine must pay $350,000 in regards to failing to comply with… Read More

May 3, 2022 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will double its enforcement team when it comes to the crypto or digital assets sector. According to a statement by the SEC, the renamed Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (formerly the Cyber Unit) will increase its headcount to 50… Read More

April 29, 2022 @ 12:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Steven Chiang a/k/a Cyrus Kong, Eric Tippetts, James Hardy, and Maurice “Butch” Chelliah in regards to an alleged digital asset offering that has been deemed an unregistered securities offering. According to the other SEC, the defendants raised… Read More

April 28, 2022 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued charges against Block Bits Capital, LLC, Block Bits Capital GP I, LLC, and the co-founders Japheth Dillman and David Mata, alleging fraudulent offering of unregistered securities. Block Bits along with Dillman and Mata, apparently raised about $1 million… Read More

April 27, 2022 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Sung Kook (Bill) Hwang, the owner of the family office Archegos Capital Management, with allegations of a massive fraud that “resulted in billions of dollars in losses.” The SEC alleges that Hwang and Archegos purchased security-based swaps… Read More

April 24, 2022 @ 5:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Division of Enforcement, requested an extension pertaining to the disgorgement of funds affiliated with Poloniex. To go back in time a bit, Poloniex is one of the few crypto exchanges that the SEC has targeted with an… Read More

April 21, 2022 @ 9:48 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has received a forfeiture order for £2,000,000 regarding erstwhile Fintech QPay Europe Limited, a firm that at one point sought to be regulated by the FCA. The money was initially frozen in “urgent proceedings” initiated by the FCA in… Read More

April 15, 2022 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

A recent ruling in the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pertaining to the issuance of XRP and the allegation by the Commission it is in fact an unregistered security took a turn in favor of Ripple this past… Read More

March 29, 2022 @ 7:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced a consent order against defendants Abner Alejandro Tinoco, and his company, Kikit & Mess Investments, LLC. The order was entered in the Western District of Texas in regards to an enforcement action. The order imposes injunctive relief, including… Read More

March 8, 2022 @ 3:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged Dwayne Golden of Florida, Jatin Patel of India, Marquis Egerton of North Carolina, and Gregory Aggesen of New York with fraud for operating a Ponzi scam involving Bitcoin. According to the CFTC, the four individuals fraudulently solicited more… Read More

March 8, 2022 @ 3:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced fraud charges against John and JonAtina (Tina) Barksdale – a brother and sister team that allegedly pursued two fraudulent digital token offerings that garnered $124 million from retail investors. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office… Read More

March 6, 2022 @ 5:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Alumni Venture Group (AVG), previously operating as Launch Angels, has settled allegations leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as securities regulators in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. AVG is a Massachusetts LLC and its CEO Michael Collins is headquartered in… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 5:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commissioner Hester Peirce has once again come to the defense of a Fintech innovator pertaining to the settlement announced today in regards to BlockFi –  a large crypto platform. As was reported earlier, BlockFi must pay $100 million in penalties to both the SEC and… Read More

February 14, 2022 @ 4:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

BlockFi, a top crypto platform that provides crypto lending services, has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission following an investigation into the company’s activities. The settlement was leaked last week and BlockFi will be paying a total $100 million penalties. There were no allegations… Read More

February 11, 2022 @ 6:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Wahed Invest, a “robo-advisor,” for “misleading statements and breaching its fiduciary duty, and for compliance failures.” Wahed has consented to the, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, while paying a penalty. Wahed Invest… Read More

February 2, 2022 @ 3:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced a “bifurcated” judgment against an issuer 420 Real Estate LLC and its CEO Willard Jackson, parties that raised money on an investment crowdfunding platform. As was reported last fall, the SEC had filed fraud charges against TruCrowd… Read More

January 26, 2022 @ 4:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled actions against two Arizona-based Fintechs ZipRemit and Lendaily. The SEC that final judgments have been entered against the two firms along with CEO Gary Prior. Without admitting or denying the allegations of the amended complaint, Pryor, ZipRemit,… Read More

January 6, 2022 @ 5:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges regarding allegations of a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). According to the SEC, Crowd Machine, Inc. and Metavine, Inc., allegedly sold unregistered digital asset securities. The SEC also charged Craig Spoule, an Australian citizen, as orchestrating… Read More

January 3, 2022 @ 9:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an administrative proceeding in regards to Vincent Petrescu, the founder of the crowdfunding platform TruCrowd. In September of 2021, TruCrowd was hit with fraud charges, in the complaint SEC v. Robert Samuel Shumake, Jr, along with… Read More