Tagged: enforcement

May 25, 2018 @ 3:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, while New York City saw thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiasts discuss the benefits of digital assets and blockchain, a House Financial Services subcommittee reviewed initial coin offerings with the leaders of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division. The Congressional Hearing provided a… Read More

May 4, 2018 @ 1:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Brian Quintenz commented on cryptocurrency enforcement actions this week. During a speech delivered to the FIA’s 40th Annual Law and Compliance Conference, Quintenz noted that the CFTC Crypto task force is coordinating with their counterparts at the Securities… Read More

May 1, 2018 @ 8:23 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Autorite Des Marches Financiers, regulator of financial markets in Quebec, has sanctioned the operators of two ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). According to an April 19 press release from the AMF, after an ‘ex parte’ hearing on April 13th, the Administrative Financial Markets Tribunal (TMF):… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 9:57 am By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Japan has hit another cryptocurrency exchange with an enforcement action. According to the FSA’s site, “Everyone’s Bitcoin” has received an “administrative punishment” for not abiding by compliance rules for cryptocurrency exchanges. The FSA states that due to reports from… Read More

April 24, 2018 @ 8:21 am By JD Alois  |  

Longfin Corp. (NASDAQ:LFIN), is reporting that Judge Denise L. Cote has vacated the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that froze the assets of the company. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a court order freezing more than $27 million in trading proceeds from allegedly illegal… Read More

April 23, 2018 @ 7:32 am By David Felsenthal and Jesse Overall  |  

In this article we discuss a number of lessons that we believe issuers of digital tokens can draw from recent enforcement actions brought by federal and state securities regulators. But we first need to define the perimeter we will be covering. There has been a… Read More

April 21, 2018 @ 2:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Arthur Breitman, AKA Arthur Meunier, was sanctioned by FINRA this past week for his dealings with the infamous Tezos initial coin offering (ICO) that raised approximately $232 million. Breitman signed the document on April 17th and it was accepted by FINRA on the next day. … Read More

April 20, 2018 @ 2:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released additional fraud charges affiliated with the Centra Tech $32 million initial coin offering (ICO) that raised money in 2017. Ealier this month, the SEC filed a complaint against Centra Tech, Sohrab “Sam” Sharma and Robert Farkas regarding… Read More

April 18, 2018 @ 11:08 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fired off another enforcement action against a questionable cryptocurrency operation. The CFTC has charged multiple individuals, and several companies, with fraud involving ATM Coin (asset trading market coin) and binary options. The CFTC filed the Complaint in the… Read More

April 15, 2018 @ 2:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Renwick Haddow, a UK national, was extradited from Morocco to the US for committing fraud that saw over $36 million stolen from investors. The extradition is just part of a long criminal saga by Haddow. Last year, the SEC joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the… Read More

April 7, 2018 @ 7:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Longfin Corp. (NASDAQ:LFIN) was hit with a formal request by NASDAQ to provide additional information regarding recent trading activity. The shares were placed on a T12 trading halt on Friday as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a formal complaint against Longfin that included… Read More

April 5, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

My Big Coin (MBC) was hit with an enforcement action by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) back in January of this year. The CFTC alleged, among other things, that MBC’s initial coin offering represented to investors as being actively traded on cryptocurrency exchanges when in fact… Read More

April 3, 2018 @ 1:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

So what is it with boxers and bogus initial coin offerings? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint alleging securities fraud with another ICO. This time it is Centra Tech, the creation of Sohrab “Sam” Sharma and Robert Farkas. The ICO reportedly… Read More

March 29, 2018 @ 8:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted an update regarding the ongoing case against AriseBank and their initial coin offering which has been deemed a scam by the regulator. This same ICO was pumped by famous boxer Evander Holyfield. In fact, a press release was issued… Read More

March 27, 2018 @ 7:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

The State of Massachusetts Securities Division, under the direction of Secretary William Galvin, has issued a series of Consent Orders pertaining to five different initial coin offerings (ICOs). The following issuers received the orders: 18Moons, Inc Across Platforms, Inc. DBA ClickableTV SparkCo Inc, DBA Librium… Read More

March 19, 2018 @ 11:15 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) first launched investigations into initial coin offerings (ICOs) and the gatekeepers that have been facilitating these offerings several months back. The news of these investigations was first published by Crowdfund Insider in late February. Chatter regarding investigations had been building… Read More

March 12, 2018 @ 6:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) slapped the wrist of Credit Karma with a $160,000 penalty. The SEC said the San Francisco-based Fintech has agreed to settle charges that it unlawfully offered securities to its employees and failed to provide them with timely financial statements… Read More

March 7, 2018 @ 1:43 pm By Dixie L. Johnson, Brian R. Michael, Ehren Halse, Kyle Sheahen, and Matthew B. Hanson  |  

  For initial coin offering (ICOs or token offerings, SAFT, etc.) issuers, investors, token holders, and anyone else operating in the cryptocurrency market, the message of recent days is clear: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has shifted into high gear. News reports indicate that… Read More

March 3, 2018 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Techcrunch founder Michael Arrington is on the receiving end of a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to a report from CNBC. Arrington, who departed Techcrunch quite some time ago, is involved in a cryptocurrency fund. Arrington… Read More

February 28, 2018 @ 6:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

“Scores” of subpoenas are being issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs), according to a brief write up in WSJ.com. The report echos what Crowdfund Insider reported earlier this week as industry insiders have been talking about SEC investigations… Read More