Tagged: enforcement

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

December 12, 2018 @ 10:27 am By Cali Haan  |  

Prosecutors in Japan today asked the courts to levy ten years imprisonment against Mark Karpeles, former CEO of Mt Gox, the largest early bitcoin exchange, Nikkei Asian Review reports. Mt Gox folded in 2014 after $423 million in bitcoins and $247 million in cash went… Read More

December 12, 2018 @ 1:26 am By Cali Haan  |  

About eight months ago, a man facing jail for allegedly taking more cash than is legally allowed in a Bitcoin transaction began heavily promoting a “Bitcointopia” project he’d conceived to develop in Nevada. Morgan Rockcoons, (also known as Nodefather, Morgan Rockwell, and Metaballo) posted relentless… Read More

December 11, 2018 @ 1:18 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Gibralter, an, “Offshore tax haven…not exactly known for (its) punctiliousness in punishing companies offering below-board services,” has fined the pre-paid cryptocurrency card provider Wavecrest about $315 000 for “serious” problems with its anti-money laundering/anti-terrorist finance controls, Financial Times Alphaville (FTA) reports. According to FTA, WaveCrest…”once did big… Read More

December 8, 2018 @ 2:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of  Enforcement, told an audience at Harvard Law School this week that, given the increasingly cross-border nature of ICO and securities fundraising, “Collaboration with international regulators and law enforcement is critical to the SEC’s civil law enforcement success.”… Read More

December 8, 2018 @ 1:14 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The SEC has settled with CoinAlpha Advisors LLC, a Delaware-registered, California-based company the Commission says sold a cryptocurrency investment fund product without registering with the SEC or qualifying for a securities exemption. According to the cease-and-desist order issued Friday, December 7th, CoinAlpha Advisors formed in… Read More

December 5, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Scott Schirick  |  

November was a busy month for the SEC’s burgeoning regulation of digital assets. In the first action of its kind, the Commission brought enforcement proceedings against the founder of digital asset trading platform EtherDelta for operating as an unregistered securities “exchange.” Ten days later, the… Read More

November 29, 2018 @ 6:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled charges against two high-profile initial coin offering (ICO) promoters.  Music producer DJ Khaled and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. were cited for failing to disclose they were remunerated for promoting ICOs via their social media channels. The SEC… Read More

November 28, 2018 @ 5:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

  The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has issued an emergency cease-and-desist order against an accused serial fraudster, Mark Steven Royer. Mr. Royer is allegedly selling the “My Crypto Mine” project, which bears the features of a pyramid scheme. Earlier this year, Royer and two partners… Read More

November 26, 2018 @ 10:46 am By JD Alois  |  

On November 16th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement actions against initial coin offerings (ICOs) that did not file for an appropriate securities exemption following the SEC’s DAO report. The SEC settled claims with both Paragon and AirFox with each ICO issuer… Read More

November 21, 2018 @ 5:56 am By Onki Kwan  |  

Last Friday, the SEC settled charges against two companies, CarrierEQ Inc. dba Airfox (“Airfox”) and Paragon Coin Inc. (“Paragon”), which raised money with initial coin offerings (“ICOs”).  The SEC found that both companies violated the registration provisions of the U.S. securities laws because neither company… Read More

November 19, 2018 @ 3:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Cannabis focused blockchain startup Paragon (Paragon Coin) has issued a press release following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) announcement last week that Paragon had settled with the SEC regarding charges of issuing an unregistered security. Paragon was one of two ICOs that were deemed… Read More

November 16, 2018 @ 3:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a rare statement on the issuance of digital assets that are securities. The statement comes following the release of two initial coin offering (ICO) enforcement actions for issuers that raised money after the SEC published the landmark DAO… Read More