Tagged: enforcement

January 10, 2018 @ 10:46 am By JD Alois  |  

Punch TV, perhaps the first potential issuer to attempt to raise capital using updated rules under Reg A+, has had its offer suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The administrative proceeding by the SEC follows an “Offer of Settlement” by Punch TV that… Read More

January 8, 2018 @ 1:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a trading suspension for UBI Blockchain Internet, Ltd. The SEC said they had questions regarding the accuracy of assertions, since at least September 2017, by UBIA in filings with the SEC regarding the company’s business operations. The SEC… Read More

December 19, 2017 @ 11:14 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an order to suspend the trading in shares of The Crypto Company (OTC Pink:CRCW). Shares in The Crypto Company had recently risen to over $640 per share. The 52 week low of shares in CRCW were $3.30 each…. Read More

December 11, 2017 @ 4:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Today, the Securities and Exchange Division announced it had halted an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as an unregulated securities offering. Munchee, a food review App based on Blockchain, agreed to refund all investors without accepting nor denying the allegation. The ICO was seeking $15 million… Read More

December 11, 2017 @ 3:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as conducting an unregistered securities offering. This is the first time the SEC has has halted an ICO where there were no allegations of fraud representing a new shift in approach… Read More

December 4, 2017 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency asset freeze to halt an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) scam that reportedly raised up to $15 million from thousands of investors since August. Dominic Lacroix, and his company, PlexCorps, had launched the PlexCoin ICO and falsely… Read More

November 16, 2017 @ 7:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has posted a complaint, filed in September, against Miami-based Pedro Fort Berbel and his company Fort Marketing Group. The SEC says that Berbel and his company operated  a Ponzi scheme that used a fraudulent internet advertising scam under such names… Read More

November 4, 2017 @ 7:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider reported last month about the RECoin Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that promised tokens backed by real estate that did not really exist. Maksim Zaslavskiy, the alleged mastermind behind a fraud launched from a series of companies including RECoin Group Foundation, DRC World and Diamond… Read More

October 26, 2017 @ 6:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Co-Director of the SEC Division of Enforcement, Stephanie Avakian, gave a speech today tackling the topic of retail investor protection and cybersecurity. Both issues have always been important missions at the SEC but recent cyber intrusions at the Commission (and elsewhere, unfortunately) have brought… Read More

October 4, 2017 @ 9:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed its final judgement against Homero Joshua Garza and his two Bitcoin mining companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner. Garza is liable for $9.182 million for restitution and pre-judgement interest of $742,774. This ends the litigation against Garza with his… Read More

September 30, 2017 @ 8:24 am By JD Alois  |  

The Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that claimed to allow investors to participate in an offer backed by diamonds and real estate. The SEC has charged REcoin Group Foundation, DRC World, Diamond Reserve Club, and Maksim… Read More

September 21, 2017 @ 12:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Defendants Nicholas Gelfman, of Brooklyn, New York, and Gelfman Blueprint, Inc. (GBI), charging the duo with fraud, misappropriation, and issuing… Read More

August 16, 2017 @ 3:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Some times the wheels of justice move slowly. And sometimes the documentation associated with these wheels lag as well. File this one under recently discovered. The Securities and Exchange Commission released, this past June, the Agreed Final Judgement regarding the case of the Ascenergy crowdfunding… Read More

August 12, 2017 @ 1:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

CIAO Group (formerly traded on the pink sheets under CIAU) has received a suspension notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The enforcement division of the SEC stated; “The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of CIAU because of questions regarding the accuracy… Read More

July 1, 2017 @ 5:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against Renwick Haddow, a UK citizen living in New York. The SEC said the “clandestine founder” claimed to be the creator of a Bitcoin platform and a chain of co-working spaces located in former bars… Read More

June 21, 2017 @ 12:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Rich Uncles, a real estate crowdfunding platform, is taking some heat from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to a recent filing with the SEC, Rich Uncles is under investigation by the securities regulator. The investigation may result in significant legal expense too. According… Read More

June 14, 2017 @ 2:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has created a new entity to help it better understand Fintech innovation. Announced today, FINRA has created “Innovation Outreach Initiative” to “foster an ongoing dialogue” with the securities as finance goes digital. FINRA says the initiative will build on… Read More

June 9, 2017 @ 9:56 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Acting Director of the Division of Enforcement Stephanie Avakian and former federal prosecutor Steven Peikin have been named Co-Directors of the Division of Enforcement. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is the agency’s largest unit with more… Read More

June 4, 2017 @ 1:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

There were several interesting presentations at the most recent SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (ACSEC) meeting last month.  One of the reports came from the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) – the group that represents and lobbies on behalf of state… Read More

May 20, 2017 @ 4:30 pm By Scott Andersen & George S. Georgiades  |  

With the one year anniversary of Crowdfunding under Regulation Crowdfunding occurring on May 16th, business executives and compliance officers at registered Crowdfunding Portals (CFPs) should be actively preparing for their first regulatory examination by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).   FINRA’s 2017 exam cycle… Read More