Tagged: enforcement

July 3, 2019 @ 5:16 am By Cali Haan  |  

A judge in the state of New York has sentenced Blake Kantor (also known as “Bill Gordon”), 44, to 86 months’ (~7 years’) imprisonment and three years’ supervised release for defrauding 700 people in a binary options and cryptocurrency scheme. Kantor pleaded guilty to charges… Read More

July 2, 2019 @ 2:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the Blockchain Association announced in a blog post that it would take over the Defend Crypto campaign, launched by Kik Interactive. Kik is engaged in a legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding an initial coin offering that raised about… Read More

June 11, 2019 @ 4:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

It has been widely known that Kik was engaged in a cage match with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ever since Kik went public regarding a Wells Notice submitted by the SEC. A Wells Notice informs an entity they may be the target of… Read More

June 5, 2019 @ 4:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added new fraud charges against Longfin Corp. and its CEO for falsifying the company’s revenue. Longfin’s former consultant Andy Altahawi was also included in the action for “fraudulently securing the company’s listing on Nasdaq.” In April of 2018,… Read More

May 30, 2019 @ 4:46 am By Cali Haan  |  

A series of legal troubles experienced by well-known Bitcoin evangelist and lifestyler Morgan Rockcoons, 31, have concluded in California with Rockcoons being sentenced to 21 months in prison. In two separate indictments, Rockcoons was charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and wire fraud. He… Read More

May 28, 2019 @ 10:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kik Interactive Inc., a company based in Canada, raised about $100 million selling Kin tokens in an initial coin offering (ICO) during the midst of the hot crypto issuance market in 2017. First sold to accredited investors in a SAFT, once the platform was functional,… Read More

May 23, 2019 @ 3:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The SEC has filed a civil suit against Daniel Pacheco, 45, of San Clemente, California, alleging he pervaded a cryptocurrency-based pyramid scheme called “IPro” that collected more than $26.5 million USD from investors: “The SEC’s complaint, filed Wednesday, alleges that from January 2017 through March… Read More

May 21, 2019 @ 9:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has receved another emergency court order halting an alleged initial coin offering (ICO) fraud. According to the SEC, a $30 million Ponzi scheme, led by South Florida-based Argyle Coin, and its principal Jose Angel Aman, targeted over 300 US… Read More

May 15, 2019 @ 8:09 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) have jointly taken action against Alex Tapscott and NextBlock Global Limited for misleading investors pertaining to digital asset investments. Both agencies require Tapscott-NextBlock to pay penalties affiliated with the securities offering. According to… Read More

April 25, 2019 @ 9:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

New York Attorney General Letitia James has obtained a court order against crypto exchange Bitfinex ( iFinex Inc.) and stablecoin Tether alleging violations of New York law in connection with “ongoing activities that may have defrauded New York investors that trade in virtual or cryptocurrency…. Read More

April 20, 2019 @ 10:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of the US Department of Treasury, has fined the operator of a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading service $35,350 USD and barred him from money-transmitting, “for willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act’s (BSA) registration, program, and reporting requirements.” In a release… Read More

April 16, 2019 @ 2:10 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A sergeant from the Silicon Valley-based Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) says 5 hackers, aged 18-26, who collectively stole $50 million USD in cryptocurrencies by taking over victims phones were arrested in 2018, The New York Post reports. Two of the more infamous alleged… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 3:14 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two unnamed individuals were charged with fraud April 10th for their involvement with OneCoin, a multibillion-dollar global cryptocurrency pyramid scheme of  started by a brother and sister team in Bulgaria. Business Times reports that an investigation by the Singapore Commercial Affairs Department and the Singapore Police… Read More

April 10, 2019 @ 2:59 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has issued an emergency cease and desist order against FxBitGlobe, a company the Board claims is “trading mostly in falsehoods” for pervading an unlikely cryptocurrency investment program that has pyramid-scheme features. According to the TSSB, FxBitGlobe, “claims to be… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 3:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the founder and former chief executive mobile payment Fintech Jumio with defrauding investors. The former CEO of Jumio, Daniel Mattes, has agreed to pay more than $17 million to settle the charges. Mattes is also a “business… Read More

April 1, 2019 @ 11:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a report in the Vancouver Sun, Vanbex, formerly doing business as Etherparty Smart Contracts, has been hit with a lawsuit launched by the British Colombia Civil Forfeiture Office. The report alleges that Vanbex and its two founders, Lisa Cheng and Kevin Hobbs, were… Read More

April 1, 2019 @ 8:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an administrative proceeding today against Mutual Coin Fund LLC and Usman Majeed. The fund submitted a Reg D to the SEC in late 2017. According to the Mutual Coin Fund website, the fund apparently invested in “relatively stable… Read More

March 29, 2019 @ 5:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

Cyberpolice in Ukraine say they have arrested a 32-year-old Bukovina resident accused of using “cryptojacking” software against a million individuals without their consent. Police allege the man deployed the software surreptitiously to the computers of individuals visiting websites run by the man. The sites reportedly… Read More

March 27, 2019 @ 5:46 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Direct Lending Investments (DLI), LLC with “a multi-year fraud.” According to the SEC, the ongoing fraud resulted in approximately $11 million in “over-charges of management and performance fees to its private funds, as well as the inflation… Read More

March 24, 2019 @ 10:00 am By Jason A. Nagi  |  

For the third time since November 2018, on February 20, 2019, the SEC issued a cease and desist order relating to an initial coin offering (ICO) which set forth the steps for remediation of an unregistered securities offering, this time for Gladius Network, LLC (the… Read More