Tagged: enforcement

March 23, 2019 @ 12:30 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Alexander Vinnik, a 39-year-old Russian national accused by three countries of crimes involving bitcoins, including money-laundering and fraud, has filed an appeal with a court in Piraeus, Greece, asking that he be released from prison on humanitarian grounds and returned to Russia, Ekathimerini reports. Vinnik… Read More

March 22, 2019 @ 4:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

Jared Rice Sr, creator of “AriseBank” and the associated cryptocurrency/token “AriseCoin,” has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in Texas, Dallas News reports. The plea reportedly involved Rice admitting that he lied to investors when he raised money for his project. These lies… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 6:10 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and Financial Markets Tribunal (TMF) would like to hear from anyone who invested in “Blockchain Lab Inc.” Affected investors are asked to contact M me  Sarah Abi-Khalil at 1 877 525-0337 , extension 2644, before 1 st April 2019. The company and its proprietors, Jonathan Forte, Benjamin… Read More

March 11, 2019 @ 6:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Friday, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, part of the Department of Justice, issued a statement regarding ongoing Ponzi scam OneCoin stating that alleged perpetrator Konstantin Ignatov had been arrested at the Los Angeles airport. Ignatov was hit with charges of wire fraud conspiracy regarding the… Read More

March 11, 2019 @ 11:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has hit Marshall Islands-registered 1pool Ltd and its CEO and owner Patrick Brunner with a $990,000 penalty for illegally offering retail commodity transactions that were margined in Bitcoin. Additionally, the CFTC sited the failure of the company to register… Read More

March 6, 2019 @ 11:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

1Broker, a Marshall Islands-registered company with a CEO based in Austria, has announced it has settled lawsuits filed against it by the US Securities regulators, the SEC and CFTC: “We are pleased to let you know that we settled the two lawsuits without admitting or… Read More

March 1, 2019 @ 2:52 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Wong Ching-kit, 25, known on social media as ‘Coin Young Master,’ and a 20-year-old accomplice, have been arrested in Hong Kong by officers from the Commercial Crime Bureau, South China News reports. They have reportedly been charged with conspiracy to defraud for selling cryptocurrency ‘mining… Read More

February 28, 2019 @ 11:20 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a motion for an order to show cause, on February 25, why Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, should not be held in contempt for violating the terms of the Court’s October 16, 2018, Final Judgment. The agreed… Read More

February 20, 2019 @ 7:36 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Gladius Network, LLC, a company that raised $12.7 million dollars via ICO (initial coin offering) in late 2017 to, “develop a network for renting spare computer bandwidth to defend against cyber attacks and enhance delivery speed,” has settled with the SEC after self-reporting its unregistered… Read More

February 9, 2019 @ 12:11 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Five men and one woman have been arrested in Klingenthal, Germany and are charged with stealing 220 000 Euros ($249 843 USD) worth of electricity to run a cryptocurrency mine consisting of 49 computers housed in an industrial facility, Freie Presse reports. Officials reportedly detected… Read More

February 9, 2019 @ 8:52 am By Cali Haan  |  

The latest enforcement report from the Texas State Securities Board states that the regulator issued cease and desist orders against 16 unlicensed crypto ventures soliciting investors in Texas in 2018. The most noteworthy of those ventures is Bitconnect, a massive global crypto Ponzi scheme that accumulated… Read More

February 8, 2019 @ 8:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Securities Fraud 101 Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division filed a complaint against online gaming firm Kizzang and founder Robert Alexander. The SEC alleges that from February 2013 to mid 2017, Alexander raised approximately $9 million from 53 different investors. Unfortunately for… Read More

January 29, 2019 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

In a report this past weekend, Kik – a Canada based company, indicated its intent to battle an anticipated enforcement action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to WSJ.com, Kik is willing to go to the mat with the Commission in the… Read More

January 15, 2019 @ 12:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Even while much of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is on furlough due to the US government shutdown, today the SEC announced charges against nine defendants for participating a hack into the SEC’s EDGAR system – the database that hosts all mandated securities filings…. Read More

December 21, 2018 @ 2:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled proceedings against Wealthfront Advisors LLC and Hedgeable, Inc, regarding claims of making false statements and publishing misleading advertising. This enforcement action marks the first the SEC has taken against Robo-advisors – a hot sector of Fintech. Wealthfront, a… Read More

December 19, 2018 @ 1:33 am By Cali Haan  |  

A Romanian citizen arrested last week by local cyber police and American Secret Service agents has been released on bail in the city of Cluj where he runs one of the region’s largest crypto exchanges. The agents flew to Romania to seek the arrest and… Read More

December 18, 2018 @ 2:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Neil Mannion, a convicted drug dealer who allegedly traded on darknet sites such as Silk Road and Agora under the name ‘Hulkster’, has lost a legal battle to keep his crypto, according to a report in the Irish Examiner. Judge Carmel Stewart approved a request… Read More

December 17, 2018 @ 10:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Consob (Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa) the Italian agency that regulates the securities industry, has put a halt to two crypto-based offerings, according to postings on their site. Both companies have received a 90 day suspension on a “precautionary basis” and are banned… Read More

December 13, 2018 @ 11:35 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled with the executive management involved with the AriseBank initial coin offering (ICO). The allegedly fraudulent ICO came to a screeching halt with the SEC obtained a court order halting the AriseBank ICO that targeted retail investors to invest in the… Read More

December 13, 2018 @ 8:51 am By Cali Haan  |  

Prosecutors and police from the Romanian Organized Crime Brigade and other divisions as well as four agents from the US Secret Service arrested a Bitcoin exchange operator Tuesday in the city of Cluj, Romania, EVZ reports. Călin Vlad Nistor, 30, is reportedly being investigated in two criminal… Read More