Tagged: enforcement

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

December 22, 2021 @ 10:20 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

2022 could see aggressive movement by some federal agencies, an experienced industry hand suggests. Joseph Lynyak III is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney and one of the nation’s foremost experts in the country on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),… Read More

December 21, 2021 @ 11:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission hit JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) with a $125 million penalty. JP Morgan Securities, a subsidiary of JP Morgan, was fined for “widespread and longstanding failures by the firm and its employees to maintain and preserve written communications,” said the… Read More

December 2, 2021 @ 11:02 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Ivars Auzins, a citizen of Latvia with crypto asset fraud. The SEC states that the defendant also went under the names of Ron Ramsey and Daniel Gaines. According to a statement by the SEC, Auzins allegedly defrauded… Read More

November 24, 2021 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained final judgment on an enforcement action that involved a securities offering for an erstwhile marijuana-based firm. According to the SEC, on November 19, 2021, the US District Court for the Central District of California entered final judgments… Read More

November 19, 2021 @ 11:18 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

A review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement actions in this fiscal year show a growing threat posed by cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) scammers. The year ended Sept. 30. The SEC filed 434 new enforcement actions in FY2021, and that is a… Read More

November 10, 2021 @ 6:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has halted two token offerings by American CryptoFed DAO LLC, a Wyoming-based organization. According to the SEC, the Division of Enforcement alleges that in September American CryptoFed filed a “materially deficient and misleading registration form known as a Form… Read More

October 15, 2021 @ 11:43 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered Tether and Bitfinex (iFinex) to pay $42.5 million in fines, according to a statement by the regulator. Tether, a leading dollar-based stablecoin, must pay $41 million in regards to claims that Tether (USDT) was fully backed by… Read More

October 5, 2021 @ 8:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has leveled fraud charges against erstwhile hemp firm CannaFarma Hemp Products Corp, (CSE:CNFA) and its founders. According to the SEC, the company allegedly committed fraud in a securities offering that raised $15 million from investors. The SEC claims that… Read More

September 29, 2021 @ 7:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the entity that represents state and provincial securities regulators, has distributed its annual Enforcement Report. In a public statement, NASAA said there have been a growing number of investigations and enforcement actions involving, precious metals, self directed IRAs,… Read More

September 27, 2021 @ 10:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two individuals for engaging in a fraudulent scheme designed to collect liquidity rebates from exchanges by wash trading put options of certain “meme stocks” in early 2021. The SEC’s complaint mentions stocks like GameStop, AMC Entertainment, Blackberry, and… Read More

September 23, 2021 @ 10:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against a quant analyst for “perpetrating a years-long front-running scheme that generated illicit profits of at least $8.5 million.” Sergei Polevikov, who worked at two asset management firms, allegedly abused his position to benefit from information he… Read More

September 20, 2021 @ 4:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has leveled fraud charges against TruCrowd and three issuers in allegations of fraud regarding $2 million of unregistered securities apparently offered via two investment crowdfunding offerings. As far as we are aware, this is the first significant enforcement action pertaining… Read More

September 14, 2021 @ 3:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has leveled fraud charges against App Annie and its co-founder and former CEO Bertrand Schmitt. The SEC says App Annie and Schmitt have agreed to settle the fraud charges and will pay a penalty of over $10 million to… Read More