Other
Crypto Assets and Cyber Enforcement Actions
June 20, 2017
Crypto Assets
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Sanchez, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 17 individuals for their roles in a $300 million Ponzi scheme that involved Houston, Texas-based CryptoFX LLC and targeted more than 40,000 predominantly Latino investors in the U.S. and two other countries. The complaint follows the SEC’s successful emergency action in September 2022 that halted the CryptoFX scheme and charged its two main principals, Mauricio Chavez and Giorgio Benvenuto. | 3/14/2024 |
| In the Matter of ShapeShift AG | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged ShapeShift AG, a Swiss company that previously operated out of Colorado, with acting as an unregistered dealer in connection with its operation of an online crypto asset trading platform. To settle the SEC's charges, ShapeShift agreed to pay a $275,000 penalty. | 3/5/2024 |
| In the Matter of TradeStation Crypto, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against TradeStation Crypto, Inc., based in Plantation, Florida, for failing to register the offer and sale of a crypto lending product that allowed U.S. investors to deposit or purchase crypto assets in a TradeStation account in exchange for the company’s promise to pay interest. To settle the SEC’s charges, TradeStation agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty. | 2/7/2024 |
| SEC v. Sewell and Rockwell Capital Management LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Brian Sewell and his company, Rockwell Capital Management, agreed to settle fraud charges in connection with a scheme that targeted students taking Sewell’s online crypto trading course known as the American Bitcoin Academy. The SEC alleges that the fraudulent scheme cost 15 students $1.2 million. | 2/2/2024 |
| SEC v. Lee, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Xue Lee (aka Sam Lee) and Brenda Chunga (aka Bitcoin Beautee) for their involvement in a fraudulent crypto asset pyramid scheme known as HyperFund that raised more than $1.7 billion from investors worldwide. | 1/29/2024 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that BarnBridge DAO, a purportedly decentralized autonomous organization, and its two founders, Tyler Ward and Troy Murray, will pay more than $1.7 million to settle charges that they failed to register BarnBridge’s offer and sale of structured crypto asset securities known as SMART Yield bonds. The Commission also charged the respondents with violations stemming from operating BarnBridge’s SMART Yield pools as unregistered investment companies. To settle the SEC’s charges, BarnBridge agreed to disgorge nearly $1.5 million of proceeds from the sales, and Ward and Murray each agreed to pay a $125,000 civil penalties. | 12/22/2023 | |
| SEC v. Kraken |
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Payward Inc. and Payward Ventures Inc., together known as Kraken, with operating Kraken’s crypto trading platform as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency.
|
11/20/2023 |
| SEC v. Safemoon LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged SafeMoon LLC, its creator Kyle Nagy, SafeMoon US LLC, and the companies’ Chief Executive Officer, John Karony, and Chief Technology Officer, Thomas Smith, for perpetrating a massive fraudulent scheme through the unregistered sale of the crypto asset security, SafeMoon. According to the SEC’s complaint, the Defendants promised to take the price of the token “Safely to the moon,” but instead of delivering profits, they wiped out billions in market capitalization, withdrew crypto assets worth more than $200 million from the project, and misappropriated investor funds for personal use. | 11/1/2023 |
| SEC v. Woodbury and Holverson | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Arline Woodbury of Ridgewood, New Jersey and Joyce Holverson of River Forest, Illinois for their involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme named CoinDeal that raised millions of dollars through false claims of trillion-dollar returns. | 9/20/2023 |
| In the Matter of James Michael Wines | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled charges against James Michael Wines ("Wines"), arising out of his role in a crypto asset securities offering that raised more than $1.5 million from over 30 investors in May 2021. According to the SEC's order, Wines participated in the drafting, review, and approval of an April 2021 press release that promoted the offering and the underlying purchase agreements for the offering. | 9/20/2023 |
| SEC v. Lufkin Advisors, LLC and Lufkin | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Lufkin Advisors, LLC, a Florida-based registered investment adviser and its President, Chief Compliance Officer, and majority owner Chauncey Forbush Lufkin III, alleging an ongoing fraud on the private funds they manage and the investors in those funds, as well as multiple other violations, including failing to produce books and records to the SEC's Division of Examinations when requested. According to the SEC's complaint, Lufkin Advisors and Chauncey Lufkin have for years engaged in a fraudulent course of conduct that included a loss of control of crypto assets entrusted to them for at least one year without disclosure of that fact to advisory clients, multiple investments with Mr. Lufkin's spouse's company without proper disclosure to private fund investors, failure to properly account for withdrawals from the private funds, failure to monitor the value of the investments made by the private funds, and a general derogation of their duty to manage the assets entrusted to them. | 9/19/2023 |
| Stoner Cats 2, LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2) with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that raised approximately $8 million from investors to finance an animated web series called Stoner Cats. | 9/13/2023 |
| Linus Financial, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Linus Financial, Inc. for failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product, the Linus Interest Accounts. The SEC determined not to impose civil penalties against Linus Financial because of the Nashville-based company’s cooperation and prompt remedial actions. | 9/7/2023 |
| SEC v. Koski | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Jeremy Koski, a resident of Hawaii, with securities fraud in connection with his manipulation of the trading market for structured equity securities backed by certain J.C. Penney Company, Inc. debentures ("JCP Debentures"), which trade over the counter under the symbol COTRP. The Commission alleges that Koski fabricated and anonymously posted fake documents on internet message boards under different usernames in order to boost the trading price of COTRP and increase the value of his large position in the stock. Koski also allegedly fabricated and disseminated phony COTRP press releases purporting to announce that "COTRP will be the first publicly traded security fund to convert to a cryptocurrency," and that this "cryptocurrency conversion" would "allow the fund to recover the face value of $25 as it opens up to a new world of digitized currency." As alleged, Koski knew that these statements were false. | 9/1/2023 |
| Impact Theory LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Impact Theory, LLC, a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Impact Theory raised approximately $30 million from hundreds of investors, including investors across the United States, through the offering. | 8/28/2023 |
| SEC v. DeSalvo | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged former New Jersey State Correctional Police Officer John A. DeSalvo with fraudulently raising funds through the unregistered offering of the Blazar Token, a crypto asset security he created but that collapsed in May 2022. The SEC also charged DeSalvo with misappropriating investor funds, much of which he sent to his personal crypto asset wallets and used to pay for a bathroom renovation. | 8/23/2023 |
| SEC v. Crews | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Keith Crews of Kennesaw, Georgia for conducting an affinity fraud through two entities which he owned and controlled, Stem Biotech LLC and Four (4) Square Biz LLC. | 8/17/2023 |
| SEC v. Hex et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Richard Heart (aka Richard Schueler) and three unincorporated entities that he controls, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX, with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion in crypto assets from investors. The SEC also charged Heart and PulseChain with fraud for misappropriating at least $12 million of offering proceeds to purchase luxury goods including sports cars, watches, and a 555-carat black diamond known as ‘The Enigma’ – reportedly the largest black diamond in the world. | 7/31/2023 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Celsius Network Limited (Celsius) and its founder and former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, for violating registration and anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, including by failing to register the offers and sales of Celsius’s crypto lending product, the Earn Interest Program; making false and misleading statements to investors of the Earn Interest Program and Celsius’s own crypto asset security, CEL; and engaging in market manipulation as it relates to CEL. | 7/13/2023 | |
| SEC v. Coinbase, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Coinbase, Inc. with operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The SEC also charged Coinbase for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program. | 6/6/2023 |
| SEC v. Binance Holdings Limited, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”), which operates the largest crypto asset trading platform in the world, Binance.com; U.S.-based affiliate, BAM Trading Services Inc. (“BAM Trading”), which, together with Binance, operates the crypto asset trading platform, Binance.US; and their founder, Changpeng Zhao, with a variety of securities law violations. | 6/5/2023 |
| In the Matter of Up, Global SEZC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled charges against Seattle-based company Coinme Inc., its subsidiary Up, Global SEZC, and the Chief Executive Officer of both entities, Neil Bergquist, for conducting unregistered offers and sales of securities in the form of a crypto asset called "UpToken," and against Bergquist and Up Global for making false and misleading statements concerning the demand for UpToken and the amount raised in the offering. | 4/28/2023 |
| SEC v. Bittrex, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged crypto asset trading platform Bittrex, Inc. and its co-founder and former CEO William Shihara for operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The SEC also charged Bittrex, Inc.’s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH, for failing to register as a national securities exchange in connection with its operation of a single shared order book along with Bittrex. | 4/17/2023 |
| SEC v. Beaxy Digital, Ltd., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the crypto asset trading platform beaxy.com (the Beaxy Platform) and its executives for failing to register as a national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The SEC also charged the founder of the platform, Artak Hamazaspyan, and a company he controlled, Beaxy Digital, Ltd., with raising $8 million in an unregistered offering of the Beaxy token (BXY) and alleged that Hamazaspyan misappropriated at least $900,000 for personal use, including gambling. Finally, the SEC charged market makers operating on the Beaxy Platform as unregistered dealers. | 3/29/2023 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against crypto asset entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his wholly-owned companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent), for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT). The SEC also charged Sun and his companies with fraudulently manipulating the secondary market for TRX through extensive wash trading, which involves the simultaneous or near-simultaneous purchase and sale of a security to make it appear actively traded without an actual change in beneficial ownership, and for orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to tout TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation. The SEC simultaneously charged eight celebrities for illegally touting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation. | 3/22/2023 | |
| SEC v. Green United, LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Utah-based company Green United, LLC, its founder Wright W. Thurston, and one of its promoters, Kristoffer A. Krohn, with allegedly defrauding investors in connection with an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities. | 3/8/2023 |
| SEC v. Singh | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Nishad Singh, the former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), for his role in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, the crypto trading platform started by Singh along with Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. Investigations into other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing. | 2/28/2023 |
| SEC v. BKCoin Management, LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it filed an emergency action in which it successfully obtained an asset freeze, appointment of a receiver, and other emergency relief against Miami-based investment adviser BKCoin Management LLC and one of its principals, Kevin Kang, in connection with a crypto asset fraud scheme. From at least October 2018 through September 2022, BKCoin raised approximately $100 million from at least 55 investors to invest in crypto assets, but BKCoin and Kang instead used some of the money to make Ponzi-like payments and for personal use. | 2/23/2023 |
| Pierce | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against former NBA player Paul Pierce for touting EMAX tokens, crypto asset securities offered and sold by EthereumMax, on social media without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion and for making false and misleading promotional statements about the same crypto asset. Pierce agreed to settle the charges and pay $1.409 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest. | 2/17/2023 |
| SEC v. Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Kwon | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Do Hyeong Kwon with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities. | 2/16/2023 |
| Payward Ventures, et al. (d/b/a Kraken) | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., both commonly known as Kraken, with failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program, whereby investors transfer crypto assets to Kraken for staking in exchange for advertised annual investment returns of as much as 21 percent. | 2/9/2023 |
| SEC v. Ryn and GexCrypto Corp. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Las Vegas, Nevada resident Emiliano S. Ryn and his company GexCrypto Corp. with defrauding members of the Filipino community in a scheme involving crypto assets. | 2/7/2023 |
| SEC v. Eisenberg | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Avraham Eisenberg with orchestrating an attack on a crypto asset trading platform, Mango Markets, by manipulating the MNGO token, a so-called governance token that was offered and sold as a security. | 1/20/2023 |
| Nexo Capital Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Nexo Capital Inc. with failing to register the offer and sale of its retail crypto asset lending product, the Earn Interest Product (EIP). To settle the SEC’s charges, Nexo agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty and cease its unregistered offer and sale of the EIP to U.S. investors. | 1/19/2023 |
| SEC v. Genesis Global Capital, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Genesis Global Capital, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC for the unregistered offer and sale of securities to retail investors through the Gemini Earn crypto asset lending program. Through this unregistered offering, Genesis and Gemini raised billions of dollars’ worth of crypto assets from hundreds of thousands of investors. | 1/12/2023 |
| SEC v. Chandran, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Neil Chandran, Garry Davidson, Michael Glaspie, Amy Mossel, Linda Knott, AEO Publishing Inc, Banner Co-Op, Inc, and BannersGo, LLC for their involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme named CoinDeal that raised more than $45 million from sales of unregistered securities to tens of thousands of investors worldwide. | 1/4/2023 |
| SEC v. Ellison and Wang | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and Zixiao (Gary) Wang, the former Chief Technology Officer of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), for their roles in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, the crypto trading platform co-founded by Samuel Bankman-Fried and Wang. | 12/21/2022 |
| SEC v. Thor Technologies, Inc. and Chin; SEC v. Moravec | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thor Technologies, Inc., David Chin, Thor's co-founder and CEO, and Matthew Moravec, Thor's co-founder and former CTO, with conducting an unregistered offering of securities through an initial coin offering. | 12/21/2022 |
| SEC v. Da Silva, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Francisley Valdevino Da Silva, Juan Antonio Tacuri Fajardo, Ramon Antonio Perez Arias, and Jose Ramiro Coronado Reyes for their roles in creating and promoting Forcount Trader Systems, Inc., a fraudulent crypto asset pyramid scheme that raised more than $8.4 million from hundreds of retail investors primarily from Spanish-speaking communities throughout the United States and other countries. | 12/14/2022 |
| SEC v. Bankman-Fried | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Samuel Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), the crypto trading platform of which he was the CEO and co-founder. | 12/13/2022 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Douver Torres Braga, Joff Paradise, Keleionalani Akana Taylor, and Jonathan Tetreault for their roles in Trade Coin Club, a fraudulent crypto Ponzi scheme that raised more than 82,000 bitcoin, valued at $295 million at the time, from more than 100,000 investors worldwide. |
11/4/2022 |
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| SEC v. Rounsville | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed charges against Jeremy K. Rounsville, a resident of Hunt County, Texas, for his role in offering and promoting a fictitious trading program marketed under the name of Arbitraging.co. | 11/3/2022 |
| Kardashian | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kim Kardashian for touting on social media a crypto asset security offered and sold by EthereumMax without disclosing the payment she received for the promotion. | 10/3/2022 |
| SEC v. Chavez, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action to stop an ongoing fraudulent and unregistered crypto asset offering targeting Latino investors, run by defendants Mauricio Chavez and Giorgio Benvenuto through a company Chavez founded and controlled, CryptoFX, LLC. | 10/3/2022 |
| SEC v. Arbitrade Ltd., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Arbitrade Ltd., a Bermudan company, and Cryptobontix Inc., a Canadian company, and their principals, Troy R. J. Hogg, James L. Goldberg, and Stephen L. Braverman, and a so-called international gold trader, Max W. Barber, for perpetrating an alleged pump-and-dump scheme involving a crypto asset called "Dignity" or "DIG." | 9/30/2022 |
| SEC v. The Hydrogen Technology Corporation, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged The Hydrogen Technology Corporation, its former CEO, Michael Ross Kane, and Tyler Ostern, the CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, a self-described “market making” firm, for their roles in effectuating the unregistered offers and sales of crypto asset securities called “Hydro” and for perpetrating a scheme to manipulate the trading volume and price of those securities, which yielded more than $2 million for Hydrogen. | 9/28/2022 |
| Sparkster, Ltd., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a cease-and-desist order against Sparkster, Ltd. and its CEO, Sajjad Daya, for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities from April 2018 through July 2018 and charged crypto influencer Ian Balina for failing to disclose compensation he received from Sparkster for publicly promoting its tokens and failing to file a registration statement with the SEC for Sparkster tokens that he resold. | 9/19/2022 |
| SEC v. Chicago Crypto Captial LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Chicago Crypto Capital LLC, its owner, Brian Amoah, and former salesmen Darcas Oliver Young and Elbert "Al" Elliott for allegedly defrauding investors during their unregistered offering of crypto asset securities. | 9/14/2022 |
| SEC v. Dragonchain, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged John Joseph Roets and three entities he controls, Dragonchain, Inc., Dragonchain Foundation, and The Dragon Company, for their roles in raising $16.5 million in unregistered crypto asset securities offerings. | 8/16/2022 |
| Bloom Protocol, LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Bloom Protocol, LLC, a company building an online identity attestation platform, for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of crypto asset securities. Bloom agreed to undertakings to register the tokens and compensate harmed investors and agreed to pay a springing penalty of up to $30.9 million if it does not complete those undertakings. | 8/9/2022 |
| SEC v. Okhotnikov, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 11 individuals for their roles in creating and promoting Forsage, a fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme that raised more than $300 million from millions of retail investors worldwide, including in the United States. Those charged include the four founders of Forsage, who were last known to be living in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, and Indonesia, as well as three U.S.-based promoters engaged by the founders to endorse Forsage on its website and social media platforms, and several members of the so-called Crypto Crusaders—the largest promotional group for the scheme that operated in the United States from at least five different states. | 8/1/2022 |
| SEC v. Wahi, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother, and his friend for perpetrating a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding certain crypto assets that would be made available for trading on the Coinbase platform. | 7/21/2022 |
| SEC v. Chiang, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Steven Chiang a/k/a Cyrus Kong, Eric Tippetts, James Hardy, and Maurice "Butch" Chelliah for their roles in raising over $10 million through two fraudulent and unregistered digital asset securities offerings. | 4/28/2022 |
| SEC v. Block Bits Capital, LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Block Bits Capital, LLC, Block Bits Capital GP I, LLC and their co-founders Japheth Dillman and David Mata, with conducting a fraudulent unregistered securities offering. | 4/28/2022 |
| SEC v. MCC International Corp., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission brought fraud charges against MCC International Corp., which does business as Mining Capital Coin Corp., its founders Luiz Carlos Capuci, Jr. and Emerson Souza Pires, and two other entities controlled by Capuci, CPTLCoin Corp. and Bitchain Exchanges, in connection with the unregistered offerings and fraudulent sales of investment plans called mining packages to thousands of investors. | 4/7/2022 |
| SEC v. Barksdale, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged siblings John and JonAtina (Tina) Barksdale with defrauding thousands of retail investors out of more than $124 million through two unregistered fraudulent offerings of securities involving a digital token called “Ormeus Coin.” | 3/8/2022 |
| BlockFi Lending LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged BlockFi Lending LLC with failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product, and also charged BlockFi with violating the registration provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940. | 2/14/2022 |
| SEC v. Garcia | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Paul A. Garcia of Severance, Colorado, for allegedly defrauding investors by stealing approximately one quarter of investor funds raised for Gold Hawgs Development Corp., a failed cryptocurrency venture. | 1/18/2022 |
| SEC v. Crowd Machine, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Australian citizen Craig Sproule and two companies he founded, Crowd Machine, Inc. and Metavine, Inc., for making materially false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities. | 1/6/2022 |
| SEC v. Auzins | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Latvian citizen with defrauding hundreds of retail investors out of at least $7 million through two separate fraudulent digital asset securities offerings. | 12/2/2021 |
| SEC v. Ginster | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ryan Ginster of Corona, California with conducting two unregistered and fraudulent securities offerings that raised over $3.6 million in cryptocurrency from retail investors. | 11/18/2021 |
| GTV Media Group, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged New York City-based GTV Media Group Inc. and Saraca Media Group Inc., and Phoenix, Arizona-based Voice of Guo Media Inc., with conducting an illegal unregistered offering of GTV common stock. The SEC also announced charges against GTV and Saraca for conducting an illegal unregistered offering of a digital asset security referred to as either G-Coins or G-Dollars. The respondents have agreed to pay more than $539 million to settle the SEC's action. | 9/13/2021 |
| SEC v. Rivetz Corp., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Rivetz Corp., Rivetz International SEZC, and Steven K. Sprague, the President of Rivetz and CEO of Rivetz International, with conducting an illegal, unregistered offering of securities through an initial coin offering. | 9/8/2021 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an action against BitConnect, an online crypto lending platform, its founder Satish Kumbhani, and its top U.S. promoter and his affiliated company, alleging that they defrauded retail investors out of $2 billion through a global fraudulent and unregistered offering of investments into a program involving digital assets. The Commission previously charged five other individuals in a related action for promoting the BitConnect offering. |
9/1/2021 5/28/2021 |
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| Poloniex, LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Poloniex, LLC, under which Poloniex agreed to pay more than $10 million for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange in connection with its operation of a trading platform that facilitated buying and selling of digital asset securities. | 8/9/2021 |
| Blockchain Credit Partners d/b/a DeFi Money Market, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two Florida men and their Cayman Islands company for unregistered sales of more than $30 million of securities using smart contracts and so-called “decentralized finance” (DeFi) technology, and for misleading investors concerning the operations and profitability of their business DeFi Money Market. | 8/6/2021 |
| SEC v. Uulala, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Uulala, Inc., and two of its California-based founders, Oscar Garcia and Matthew Loughran for allegedly defrauding more than a thousand investors in an unregistered offering of digital asset securities that raised more than $9 million and against Uulala and Garcia for allegedly engaging in a second fraudulent offering of convertible notes. | 8/4/2021 |
| Blotics Ltd., f/d/b/a Coinschedule Ltd. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against the operator of Coinschedule.com, a once-popular website that profiled offerings of digital asset securities. The SEC’s order finds that United Kingdom-based Blotics Ltd. violated the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws by failing to disclose the compensation it received from issuers of the digital asset securities it profiled. | 7/14/2021 |
| Loci, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Loci, Inc. and its CEO John Wise for making materially false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities. According to the SEC's order, Loci provided an intellectual property search service for inventors and other users through its software platform called InnVenn. The SEC's order finds that from August 2017 through January 2018, Loci and Wise raised $7.6 million from investors by offering and selling digital tokens called "LOCIcoin." As stated in the order, in promoting the ICO, Loci and Wise made numerous materially false statements to investors and potential investors, including false statements concerning the company's revenues, number of employees, and InnVenn's user base. | 6/22/2021 |
| The Securities and Exchange Commission charged three individuals for their roles in the $30 million initial coin offering fraud that was spearheaded by convicted criminal Boaz Manor and his associate, Edith Pardo. The SEC previously charged Manor, Pardo, and their companies, CG Blockchain, Inc. and BCT Inc. SEZC in connection with the scheme in January 2020. |
6/15/2021 1/17/2020 |
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| SEC v. Radjabli, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Edgar M. Radjabli of Boca Raton, Florida, and two entities he controlled for engaging in several securities frauds of escalating size. The SEC's complaint alleges that Radjabli, formerly a practicing dentist, and Apis Capital Management LLC, an unregistered investment adviser firm Radjabli owned and controlled, conducted a fraudulent offering of Apis Tokens, a digital asset representing tokenized interests in Apis Capital's main investment fund. The complaint further alleges that Radjabli and Apis Capital manipulated the securities market for Veritone Inc., a publicly-traded artificial intelligence company, by announcing in December 2018 an unsolicited cash tender offer to purchase Veritone for $200 million, when, in truth Radjabli and Apis Capital lacked the financing or any reasonable prospect of obtaining the financing necessary to complete the deal. | 6/11/2021 |
| SEC v. LBRY, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged LBRY, Inc., a blockchain company, with conducting an unregistered offering of digital asset securities. According to the SEC's complaint, from at least July 2016 to February 2021, LBRY, which offers a video sharing application, sold digital asset securities called "LBRY Credits" to numerous investors, including investors based in the US. LBRY allegedly received more than $11 million in U.S. dollars, Bitcoin, and services from purchasers who participated in its offering. | 3/29/2021 |
| SEC v. Cutting | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Shawn C. Cutting of Sandpoint, Idaho, for allegedly raising millions of dollars from hundreds of investors by falsely claiming to be a financial adviser with securities licenses, overstating investment returns, and misappropriating money received from investors. | 3/5/2021 |
| SEC v. Coinseed, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Coinseed, Inc., a company that purported to offer a mobile investment application that enabled users to invest in digital assets, and its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Delgerdalai Davaasambuu, in connection with Coinseed's offer and sale of digital asset securities. | 2/17/2021 |
| SEC v. Krstic, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged three individuals with defrauding hundreds of retail investors out of more than $11 million through two fraudulent and unregistered digital asset securities offerings. | 2/1/2021 |
| Wireline, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against financial technology company Wireline, Inc. for making materially false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities. | 1/15/2021 |
| Tierion, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Texas-based blockchain startup company Tierion, Inc. for conducting an unregistered offering of securities in the form of a "token sale." Tierion has agreed to return funds to harmed investors, pay a $250,000 penalty, and disable trading in its "tokens." | 12/23/2020 |
| SEC v. Qin, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action and obtained an order imposing an asset freeze and other emergency relief against Virgil Capital LLC and its affiliated companies in connection with an alleged securities fraud relating to Virgil Capital's flagship cryptocurrency trading fund, Virgil Sigma Fund LP. The Commission's action alleges that the fraud was directed by Stefan Qin, an Australian citizen and part-time resident of New York, who owns and controls Virgil Capital and its affiliated companies. | 12/22/2020 |
| SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an action against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering. | 12/22/2020 |
| ShipChain, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against ShipChain, Inc. for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens, pursuant to which ShipChain agreed to pay a $2,050,000 penalty, transfer tokens in ShipChain's possession or control, publish notice of the order, and request removal of the tokens from digital asset trading platforms. | 12/21/2020 |
| SEC v. Elmaani | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Amir Bruno Elmaani, who goes by the online alias Bruno Block, for conducting an illegal securities offering of digital tokens and for his scheme to profit by minting millions of unauthorized tokens for himself at no cost and selling them into the secondary market, thereby causing the value of others' tokens to plummet. | 12/9/2020 |
| SEC v. McAfee, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged businessman and computer programmer John McAfee for promoting investments in initial coin offerings to his Twitter followers without disclosing that he was paid to do so, and also charged McAfee's bodyguard Jimmy Watson, Jr. for his role in the alleged scheme. | 10/5/2020 |
| Salt Blockchain Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Salt Blockchain Inc. for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens, pursuant to which Salt agreed to settle the action by returning the proceeds from the offering to harmed investors, registering the tokens as securities, and paying a civil penalty. | 9/30/2020 |
| SoluTech, Inc., et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled fraud charges against Connecticut-based SoluTech, Inc. and its former chief executive officer, Nathan Pitruzzello, in connection with a $2.4 million offering of digital asset securities that included an initial coin offering. | 9/25/2020 |
| Unikrn, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Unikrn, Inc., an operator of an online eSports gaming and gambling platform headquartered in Seattle, Washington, for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital asset securities, pursuant to which Unikrn agreed to pay a $6.1 million penalty, disable Unikrn's tokens, publish notice of the order, and request removal of the tokens from digital asset trading platforms. | 9/15/2020 |
| SEC v. FLiK, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged five Atlanta-based individuals, including film producer Ryan Felton, rapper and actor Clifford Harris, Jr., known as T.I. or Tip, and three others who each promoted one of Felton's two unregistered and fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs). The SEC also charged FLiK and CoinSpark, the two companies controlled by Felton that conducted the ICOs. | 9/10/2020 |
| SEC v. Millan, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two high-level promoters for acting as unregistered brokers when selling the securities of AirBit Club, an investment scheme that targeted LatinX and Spanish-speaking communities and promised returns through a purported digital asset trading program and from the recruitment of others. | 8/18/2020 |
| Boon.Tech, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings charging Virginia-based Boon.Tech and its chief executive officer Rajesh Pavithran for fraud and registration violations in connection with a $5 million initial coin offering (ICO) of digital asset securities. | 8/13/2020 |
| SEC v. NAC Foundation, LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint charging NAC Foundation, its Chief Executive Officer Marcus Andrade, and political lobbyist Jack Abramoff with conducting a fraudulent, unregistered offering of AML BitCoin, a digital asset security the defendants claimed was a new and improved version of bitcoin. | 6/25/2020 |
| SEC v. High Street Capital Partners, LLC, et al. | The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against two Pennsylvania-based brothers and three entities they control to stop a cryptocurrency offering fraud and the misappropriation of investor proceeds. | 6/16/2020 |
| BitClave PTE Ltd. | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against BitClave PTE Ltd. for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital asset securities, requiring company to return the proceeds from the $25.5 million offering and pay additional monetary relief to be distributed through a Fair Fund. | 5/28/2020 |
| SEC v. Putnam, et al. | The Commission filed a complaint and obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief against Daniel F. Putnam, of Utah, Jean Paul Ramirez Rico, of Colombia, and Angel A. Rodriguez, of Utah, who allegedly defrauded investors of more than $12 million in two cryptocurrency-related schemes. | 5/7/2020 |
| SEC v. Dropil, Inc., et al. | The Commission filed a complaint against Dropil, Inc. and its three founders for allegedly conducting a fraudulent initial coin offering of unregistered digital asset securities raising money from thousands of investors. | 4/23/2020 |
| SEC v. Meta 1 Coin Trust, et al. | The Commission filed an emergency action against Meta 1 Coin Trust, a former state senator, and two others for allegedly conducting a fraudulent initial coin offering of unregistered digital asset securities. | 3/20/2020 |
| Steven Seagal | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against an actor for failing to disclose payments he received for promoting an investment in an initial coin offering. | 2/27/2020 |
| Enigma MPC | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a blockchain technology company for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens. | 2/19/2020 |
| SEC v. Ackerman | The Commission filed a complaint against an Ohio-based businessman who allegedly orchestrated a digital asset scheme that defrauded approximately 150 investors, including many physicians. | 2/11/2020 |
| SEC v. Grybniak, et al. | The Commission filed a complaint against a purported blockchain-marketplace company and its founder for allegedly conducting a fraudulent initial coin offering of unregistered digital asset securities. | 1/21/2020 |
| Blockchain of Things, Inc. | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a blockchain technology company for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens. | 12/18/2019 |
| SEC v. Eyal, et al. | The Commission filed a complaint against a digital-asset entrepreneur and his company for allegedly defrauding investors in an initial coin offering that raised more than $42 million from hundreds of investors. | 12/11/2019 |
| SEC v. Telegram Group Inc., et al. | The Commission filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order against two offshore entities conducting an alleged unregistered, ongoing digital token offering in the U.S. and overseas that has raised more than $1.7 billion of investor funds. | 10/11/2019 |
| Block.one | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a blockchain technology company for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens that raised the equivalent of several billion dollars over approximately one year. | 9/30/2019 |
| SEC v. Lucas | The Commission filed a complaint against Jonathan C. Lucas, the former founder and chief executive officer of Fantasy Market, a purported online adult entertainment marketplace, for allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent initial coin offering. | 9/20/2019 |
| SEC v. ICOBox, et al. | The Commission filed a complaint against ICOBox and its founder Nikolay Evdokimov alleging that they conducted an illegal $14 million securities offering of ICOBox’s digital tokens and acted as unregistered brokers for other digital asset offerings. | 9/18/2019 |
| SEC v. Bitqyck, Inc., et al. | The Commission filed a settled district court action against an entity and two individuals that violated the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities and Exchange Acts by offering and selling two unregistered digital asset securities, and the entity violated Section 5 of the Exchange Act by operating an unregistered national securities exchange, which the individuals aided and abetted. | 8/29/2019 |
| ICO Rating | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Russian entity ICO Rating for violating Section 17(b) of the Securities Act by failing to disclose payments received from issuers for publicizing their digital asset securities offerings. | 8/20/2019 |
| SimplyVital Health, Inc. | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a New England-based blockchain company for offering and selling approximately $6.3 million of securities to the public in unregistered transactions. | 8/12/2019 |
| SEC v. Middleton, et al. | The Commission obtained an emergency asset freeze against Veritaseum, Inc., Veritaseum, LLC and Reginald ("Reggie") Middleton, alleging that the defendants violated the antifraud provisions and engaged in an unregistered offering of digital securities. |
8/12/2019 |
| The Commission filed a district court action and obtained an emergency asset freeze against Longfin Corp., its CEO and three of its affiliates, alleging that the company and its CEO engaged in an unregistered distribution of securities and the three affiliates sold unregistered securities after the company announced a related-party acquisition of a purported cryptocurrency website, causing a dramatic increase its stock price. The Commission later filed an additional action against Longfin Corp. and its CEO asserting fraud claims for allegedly falsifying the company's revenue and, together with a former Longfin consultant, for fraudulently securing the company's listing on Nasdaq. |
6/5/2019 4/6/2018 |
|
| SEC v. Kik Interactive Inc. | The Commission filed a complaint against an ICO issuer for raising $100 million in an alleged unregistered securities offering that did not qualify for an exemption. | 6/4/2019 |
| SEC v. Pacheco | The Commission filed a litigated district court action against the operator of an alleged $26.5 million pyramid scheme that enticed investors with points that were convertible into a cryptocurrency. | 5/22/2019 |
| NextBlock Global Ltd. and Alex Tapscott | The Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings against a Canadian corporation and its co-founder and former CEO for allegedly making misrepresentations in connection with a securities offering that raised $16 million to invest in blockchain companies and digital assets. | 5/14/2019 |
| SEC v. Natural Diamonds Investment Co., et al. | The Commission obtained an emergency court order halting an alleged ongoing $30 million Ponzi scheme targeting more than 300 investors in the U.S. and Canada. Argyle Coin, LLC, a purported cryptocurrency business, and its principal lured investors by falsely claiming an investment in Argyle Coin was risk-free because it was backed by fancy colored diamonds, and promising to use investor funds to develop the cryptocurrency business. | 5/13/2019 |
| Mutual Coin Fund LLC and Usman Majeed | The Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings against a Michigan-based hedge fund manager and its principal for making misrepresentations and engaging in the unregistered, non-exempt sale of limited partnership interests in a fund it managed that invested in digital assets. | 4/1/2019 |
| Gladius Network LLC | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a Washington, D.C.-based company that raised $12.7 million in an unregistered, non-exempt ICO and then self-reported to the Commission. | 2/20/2019 |
| CoinAlpha Advisors LLC | The Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings against a California-based hedge fund manager for engaging in the unregistered, non-exempt sale of limited partnership interests in a fund it managed that invested in digital assets. | 12/7/2018 |
| Floyd Mayweather, Jr. | The Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings against a celebrity who promoted ICOs on social media without disclosing the fact and amount of compensation he received from the issuers for the promotions. | 11/29/2018 |
| Khaled Khaled ("DJ Khaled") | The Commission filed settled cease-and-desist proceedings against a celebrity who promoted an ICO on social media without disclosing the fact and amount of compensation he received from the issuer for the promotions. | 11/29/2018 |
| Paragon Coin, Inc. | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against an online company, Paragon Coin, in connection with its unregistered offering of tokens in an ICO that raised approximately $12 million to implement blockchain technology in the cannabis industry. The Commission concluded that the PRG tokens were securities, and that the offering did not qualify from any exemption from registration. | 11/16/2018 |
| CarrierEQ, Inc., d/b/a Airfox | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against a Boston-based start-up, Airfox, in connection with its unregistered offering of tokens in an ICO that raised approximately $15 million to develop a token-denominated “ecosystem.” The Commission concluded that the AIR tokens were securities, and that the offering did not qualify from any exemption from registration. | 11/16/2018 |
| Zachary Coburn | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against the founder of a digital asset trading platform for secondary market trading of ERC20 tokens, EtherDelta, for causing the trading platform to operate as an unregistered national securities exchange. | 11/8/2018 |
| SEC v. Blockvest LLC, et al. | The Commission obtained an emergency court order halting a planned ICO and ongoing pre-ICO sales. The Commission alleged that Blockvest and its founder falsely claimed they received regulatory approval from various agencies (including the SEC) for the ICO, used the SEC seal without permission and a made-up regulatory agency to promote the ICO, and falsely claimed that Blockvest would be the first “licensed and regulated” cryptocurrency fund. | 10/11/2018 |
| SEC v. 1pool Ltd. a.k.a. 1Broker, et al. | The Commission charged 1Broker and its CEO with registration violations in connection with their overseas trading platform that exclusively used bitcoins and offered and sold to U.S. residents Contracts for Difference that track U.S.-listed securities and are security-based swaps. The Commission also alleged that 1Broker and its CEO failed to register the offer and sale of the products, failed to transact these products on a registered national exchange, performed no know-your-customer (KYC) inquiries, and acted as an unregistered dealer. | 9/27/2018 |
| TokenLot LLC, Lenny Kugel, and Eli Lewitt | The Commission filed settled administrative proceedings against a Michigan-based company and self-described “ICO Superstore” and its two owners for operating as unregistered broker-dealers in digital tokens sold in connection with ICOs and secondary market activities. | 9/11/2018 |
| Crypto Asset Management, LP and Timothy Enneking | The Commission filed settled administrative proceedings against a California-based hedge fund manager and its sole principal for offering a fund formed to invest in digital assets that operated as an unregistered investment company while falsely marketing it as the "first regulated crypto asset fund in the United States." | 9/11/2018 |
| Tomahawk Exploration LLC and David T. Laurance | The Commission obtained officer-and-director and penny stock bars in a settlement with the founder of a company responsible for a fraudulent ICO to fund oil exploration and drilling. | 8/14/2018 |
| SEC v. Jesky, et al. | The Commission filed a settled district court action against two individuals who illegally sold restricted shares in UBI Blockchain Internet Ltd. at high market prices instead of the fixed price under a registration statement. The Commission previously suspended trading in the stock. The two individuals agreed to return approximately $1.4 million in ill-gotten gains and more than $188,000 in penalties. | 7/2/2018 |
| SEC v. Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc., et al. | The Commission obtained a court order halting an alleged ongoing fraud involving an ICO. The court also approved an emergency asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver. | 5/22/2018 |
| The Commission filed a district court action against two co-founders of Centra Tech, Inc., a purported financial services start-up, charging them with orchestrating an allegedly fraudulent ICO. The Commission later filed an amended complaint against a third member of Centra Tech, Inc., charging him with orchestrating the fraudulent ICO. |
4/20/2018 4/2/2018 |
|
| SEC v. Montroll, et al. | The Commission filed a district court action against a former bitcoin-denominated platform and its operator for allegedly operating an unregistered securities exchange and defrauding users of that exchange. The SEC also charged the operator with making alleged false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offering of securities. | 2/21/2018 |
| The Commission filed a district court action and obtained an emergency asset freeze against an allegedly fraudulent ICO that claimed to run the world’s first “decentralized bank.” The Commission later settled with two former executives behind the allegedly fraudulent ICO in December 2018. |
1/25/2018 12/11/2018 |
|
| In re Munchee, Inc | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist order against a California-based company selling digital tokens in an unregistered offering to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service. | 12/11/2017 |
| SEC v. PlexCorps, et al. | The Commission filed a district court action and obtained an emergency asset freeze against a recidivist Quebec securities law violator, Dominic Lacroix, and his company, PlexCorps. | 12/1/2017 |
| SEC v. REcoin Group Foundation, LLC, et al. | The Commission charged Maksim Zaslavskiy and his two companies for allegedly defrauding investors in a pair of so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) purportedly backed by investments in real estate and diamonds (Recoin Group Foundation and Diamond Reserve Club). | 9/29/2017 |
| Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: The DAO | The Commission issued a Report of Investigation concerning the application of the U.S. federal securities laws to the offer and sale of DAO Tokens, which were virtual tokens created and distributed on a blockchain by an entity called “The DAO.” | 7/25/2017 |
| SEC v. Renwick Haddow, et al. | The Commission filed a district court action and obtained an emergency asset freeze against Renwick Haddow, the founder of a purported Bitcoin holding-and-trading platform and a chain of co-working spaces, alleging that he defrauded investors in both companies while also hiding his connection given his past disciplinary history with U.K. regulators. | 6/30/2017 |
| In re Bitcoin Investment Trust and SecondMarket, Inc. | The Commission filed a settled administrative proceeding against SecondMarket, Inc., a New York broker-dealer registered with the Commission, and Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), a Delaware trust whose sole assets are bitcoins. Each agreed to settle charges that they respectively violated Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with their purchases of BIT shares during a continuous distribution. | 7/11/2016 |
| SEC v. Garza, et al. | The Commission charged Garza and his two bitcoin mining companies with conducting an alleged Ponzi scheme by offering shares – called “Hashlets” – in a bitcoin mining operation that did not have enough computing power for the mining they promised to conduct. | 12/1/2015 |
| In re Sand Hill Exchange, et al. | In June 2015, the SEC filed a settled administrative action against 2 entrepreneurs who offered and sold security-based swaps through a website called Sand Hill exchange and sought people to fund accounts at Sand Hill using dollars or bitcoins. | 6/17/2015 |
| In re BTC Trading, Corp. and Ethan Burnside | The Commission brought a settled administrative proceeding against Burnside, a video game programmer and bitcoin hobbyist, for (a) operating two online venues for trading securities – BTC Virtual Stock Exchange and LTC-Global Virtual Stock Exchange – using bitcoin and litecoin without registering the sites as broker-dealers or stock exchanges, and (b) conducting two unregistered offerings, one in LTC-Global itself, and another in a litecoin mining venture he owned and operated. | 12/8/2014 |
| In re Erik T. Voorhees | The Commission charged Voorhees, a Bitcoin entrepreneur with the offer and sale of unregistered securities in SatoshiDICE, a well-known bitcoin betting game, and FeedZeBirds, a social media marketing venture. | 6/3/2014 |
| SEC v. Shavers | The Commission charged Shavers and his company with defrauding investors in a bitcoin-denominated Ponzi scheme, raising more than 700,000 bitcoins in principal investments from BTCST investors, and falsely promising of up to 7% weekly returns based on BTCST’s purported bitcoin market arbitrage activity. | 7/23/2013 |
Account Intrusions
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Mohamed, et al. | The Commission charged 18 individuals and entities for their roles in a fraudulent scheme in which dozens of online retail brokerage accounts were hacked and improperly used to purchase microcap stocks to manipulate the price and trading volume of those stocks. | 8/15/2022 |
| SEC v. Willner | Day trader allegedly hacked into over 100 online customer brokerage accounts to manipulate the price of securities generating at least $700,000 in illicit profits | 10/30/2017 |
| SEC v. Mustapha | Overseas trader allegedly hacked into online customer brokerage accounts to manipulate stock prices through unauthorized trades | 6/22/2016 |
| SEC v. Murmylyuk | Trader allegedly hacked into online customer brokerage accounts to manipulate stock prices through unauthorized options trades | 4/17/2012 |
| SEC v. Nagaicevs | Overseas allegedly trader hacked into online customer brokerage accounts to manipulate stock prices through unauthorized trades | 1/26/2012 |
Hacking/Insider Trading
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| Olga Kuprina | These proceedings arise out of the alleged scheme to hack into the Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system described by the Commission in its complaint against Ieremenko and others in SEC v. Ieremenko, et al. Specifically, from approximately October 2016 to approximately March 2017, while operating in Ukraine, Respondent worked with associates of Ieremenko to hack the EDGAR system and exfiltrate material, nonpublic information. | 2/8/2023 |
| SEC v. Dishinger, et al. | The Commission charged three individuals for illegally tipping and trading in the securities of Equifax, Inc. in advance of the company's public announcement on September 7, 2017 that it had experienced a massive cyber intrusion and data breach. | 8/15/2022 |
| SEC v. Kliushin, et al. | The Commission charged five Russian nationals for engaging in a multi-year scheme to profit from stolen corporate earnings announcements obtained by hacking into the systems of two U.S.-based filing agent companies before the announcements were made public. The filing agents assist publicly traded companies with the preparation and filing of periodic reports with the SEC, including quarterly reports containing earnings information. | 12/20/2021 |
| SEC v. Watson, et al. | The Commission charged three individuals with insider trading in advance of an announcement by Long Blockchain Company (formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea Co.) that it was going to "pivot" from its existing beverage business to blockchain technology, which caused the company’s stock price to soar. | 7/9/2021 |
| SEC v. Ieremenko, et al. | The Commission filed a district court action alleging that Ieremenko, working with others, hacked into the SEC's EDGAR system and extracted test files containing nonpublic information about upcoming quarterly earnings announcement to use for illegal trading. | 1/15/2019 |
| SEC v. Hong, et al. | Overseas traders allegedly hacked into two U.S. law firms to obtain nonpublic information on which they traded | 12/27/2016 |
| SEC v. Ly | IT specialist allegedly hacked into the email accounts of senior executives of his employer to obtain nonpublic information on which he traded | 12/5/2016 |
| SEC v. Zavodchiko, et al. | Overseas trading ring allegedly hacked into the servers of newswire services to obtain nonpublic information on which they traded | 2/18/2016 |
| SEC v. Dubovoy, et al. | Overseas trading ring allegedly hacked into the servers of newswire services to obtain nonpublic information on which they traded | 8/11/2015 |
Market Manipulation/False Tweets/Fake Websites/Dark Web
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Patel | The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Milan Vinod Patel, of Cumming, Georgia, for spreading more than 100 false rumors about public companies to generate more than $1 million in illicit trading profits. | 2/16/2023 |
| SEC v. Parrino | The Commission charged Charles Parrino for his role in a market manipulation scheme in which he and several other individuals created false rumors about public companies in order to profitably trade around the temporary price increases caused by the publication of the rumors. | 9/28/2022 |
| SEC v. Simmons | The Commission charged Lee Simmons, a Minnesota resident, with fraud stemming from his allegedly phony offer to purchase BlueLinx Holdings, Inc., a U.S.-listed wholesale distributor of building and industrial products. | 8/19/2022 |
| SEC v. EmpiresX, et al. | The Commission brought fraud charges against Empires Consulting Corp. (EmpiresX), its founders Emerson Sousa Pires and Flavio Mendes Goncalves, and its head trader Joshua David Nicholas, for a scheme that allegedly raised at least $40 million by luring investors with false claims of one percent daily profits, but instead misappropriated large sums of investors' money for personal uses. | 6/30/2022 |
| SEC v. Salandra | The Commission charged Anthony Salandra, for his role in a market manipulation scheme in which he and several other individuals created false rumors about public companies in order to profitably trade around the temporary price increases caused by the publication of the rumors. | 4/11/2022 |
| SEC v. ten Cate | The Commission charged Melville ten Cate, a U.S. citizen residing abroad, with fraud stemming from his allegedly phony offer to purchase Textron – a large U.S.-listed aircraft, defense, and industrial company. | 4/5/2022 |
| SEC v. Giltman | The Commission charged Allen C. Giltman, a former registered investment professional, with allegedly participating in a long-running fraudulent scheme to lure investors into buying fictitious certificates of deposit (CDs). The scheme resulted in victims, primarily older adults investing their retirement savings, losing at least $40 million. | 1/5/2022 |
| SEC v. Gallagher | The Commission filed an emergency action, and obtained an injunction and asset freeze, against Steven M. Gallagher for allegedly committing securities fraud through a long running scheme to manipulate stocks using Twitter. | 10/26/2021 |
| SEC v. Melnick | The Commission charged Mark Melnick, the host of a stock trading webcast, for spreading more than 100 false rumors about public companies in order to generate illicit profits. | 9/30/2021 |
| SEC v. Trovias | The Commission charged Apostolos Trovias, a Greek national, with perpetrating a fraudulent scheme to sell what he called "insider trading tips" on the Dark Web. The Dark Web, which facilitates anonymity by obscuring users’ identities, allows users to purchase and sell illegal products and services, and in this case, insider trading tips. | 7/9/2021 |
| SEC v. Jones | The Commission filed charges against James Roland Jones of Redondo Beach, California, for perpetrating a fraudulent scheme to sell what he called “insider tips” on the dark web. The dark web allows users to access the internet anonymously and, as such, has often been used to host websites and marketplaces that support or promote illegal activity. This is the SEC’s first enforcement action involving alleged securities violations on the dark web. | 3/18/2021 |
| SEC v. Fassari | The Commission filed fraud charges and obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief against an Irvine, California-based trader who used social media to spread false information about a defunct company, while secretly profiting by selling his own holdings of the company's stock. | 3/2/2021 |
| SEC v. Ross | The Commission filed charges against Barton S. Ross for his role in a market manipulation scheme in which he and several other individuals created false rumors about public companies in order to profitably trade around the temporary price increases caused by the publication of the rumors. | 12/18/2020 |
| SEC v. Sotnikov, et al. | The Commission filed charges against a Russian national and entities he controlled for allegedly participating in a fraudulent scheme to lure U.S. investors into buying fictitious Certificates of Deposit (CDs) promoted through internet advertising and “spoofed” websites that mimic the actual sites of legitimate financial institutions. | 3/13/2020 |
| SEC v. Burns | U.S.-based trader allegedly filed false tender offer form on EDGAR to manipulate stock price | 7/11/2018 |
| SEC v. Murray | U.S.-based trader allegedly filed false tender offer form on EDGAR to manipulate stock price | 5/19/2017 |
| SEC v. Aly | Overseas trader allegedly manipulated stock price by filing false Schedule 13D form on EDGAR | 5/24/2016 |
| SEC v. Craig | Overseas trader allegedly disseminated false tweets to manipulate stock prices | 11/6/2015 |
| SEC v. PTG Capital Partners LTD, et al. | Overseas trader allegedly manipulated prices of stocks through false EDGAR filings | 6/4/2015 |
Regulated Entities – Cybersecurity Controls and Safeguarding Customer Information
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Solarwinds Corp. and Brown | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Austin, Texas-based software company SolarWinds Corporation and its chief information security officer, Timothy G. Brown, for fraud and internal control failures relating to allegedly known cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities. | 10/30/2023 |
| The Options Clearing Corporation | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) will undertake remedial efforts and pay $17 million in penalties to settle charges that it failed to comply with its SEC-approved Stress Testing and Clearing Fund Methodology rule during certain times between October 2019 and May 2021. | 2/16/2023 |
| Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC | The Commission filed charges against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC stemming from the firm’s extensive failures, over a five-year period, to protect the personal identifying information, or PII, of approximately 15 million customers. | 9/20/2022 |
| J.P Morgan Securities LLC; UBS Financial Services Inc.; TradeStation Securities, Inc. | The Commission charged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, UBS Financial Services Inc., and TradeStation Securities, Inc. for deficiencies in their programs to prevent customer identity theft, in violation of the SEC’s Identity Theft Red Flags Rule, or Regulation S-ID. | 7/27/2022 |
| KMS Financial Services, Inc.; Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, et al.; Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., et al. | The Commission sanctioned eight firms in three actions for failures in their cybersecurity policies and procedures that resulted in email account takeovers exposing the personal information of thousands of customers and clients at each firm. The eight firms, which have agreed to settle the charges, are: Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC, Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, Cetera Advisors LLC, and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC (collectively, the Cetera Entities); Cambridge Investment Research Inc. and Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. (collectively, Cambridge); and KMS Financial Services Inc. (KMS). All were Commission-registered as broker dealers, investment advisory firms, or both. | 8/30/2021 |
| GWFS Equities, Inc. | The Commission filed settled charges against GWFS Equities Inc. (GWFS), a Colorado-based registered broker-dealer and affiliate of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, for violating the federal securities laws governing the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). GWFS provides services to employer-sponsored retirement plans.
According to the SEC’s order, from September 2015 through October 2018, GWFS was aware of increasing attempts by external bad actors to gain access to the retirement accounts of individual plan participants. The order further finds that GWFS was aware that the bad actors attempted or gained access by, among other things, using improperly obtained personal identifying information of the plan participants, and that the bad actors frequently were in possession of electronic login information such as user names, email addresses, and passwords. |
5/12/2021 |
| Virtu Americas LLC (f/k/a KCG Americas LLC) | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Virtu Americas LLC (f/k/a KCG Americas LLC) for failing to comply with certain provisions of Regulation SCI in connection with the dark pool formerly known as KCG MatchIt. | 9/30/2019 |
| The Options Clearing Corporation | The Commission filed a settled cease-and-desist and administrative proceeding against a registered clearing agency for violating Exchange Act Rules 17Ad-22(b)(2) and (e)(1), (3), (4), (6) and (7), Reg. SCI, and Section 19(b)(1) of the Exchange Act and Rule 19b-4(c) thereunder as a result of its failures to establish and enforce policies and procedures involving financial risk management, operational requirements and information-systems security and changing of policies on core risk management issues without obtaining the required SEC approval. | 9/4/2019 |
| Voya Financial Advisors | The Commission filed settled administrative proceedings against an Iowa-based broker-dealer and investment adviser related to its failures in cybersecurity policies and procedures surrounding a cyber intrusion that compromised personal information of thousands of its customers, in violation of Reg S-P and Reg S-ID. | 9/26/2018 |
| Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC | Failure to safeguard customer data from cyber-breaches in violation of Reg S-P stemming from a Morgan Stanley employee transferring confidential customer data to a personal server that was eventually hacked. | 6/8/2016 |
| RT Jones Capital Equities Management, Inc. | Failure to safeguard customer data from cyber-breaches in violation of Reg S-P as a result of an investment adviser's storage of sensitive customer information on a third-party hosted web server that was eventually hacked and its failure to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to safeguard such customer information. | 9/22/2015 |
Public Company Disclosure and Controls
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| Blackbaud, Inc. | The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Blackbaud Inc., a South Carolina-based public company that provides donor data management software to non-profit organizations, agreed to pay $3 million to settle charges for making misleading disclosures about a 2020 ransomware attack that impacted more than 13,000 customers. | 3/9/2023 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | The Commission brought settled charges against technology company NVIDIA Corporation for inadequate disclosures concerning the impact of cryptomining on the company’s gaming business. | 5/6/2022 |
| Pearson plc | The Commission filed settled charges against Pearson plc, a London-based public company that provides educational publishing and other services to schools and universities. Pearson agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges that it misled investors about a 2018 cyber intrusion involving the theft of millions of student records, including dates of births and email addresses, and had inadequate disclosure controls and procedures. | 8/16/2021 |
| First American Financial Corporation | The Commission filed settled charges against real estate settlement services company First American Financial Corporation for disclosure controls and procedures violations related to a cybersecurity vulnerability that exposed sensitive customer information. | 6/14/2021 |
| Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: Certain Cyber-Related Frauds Perpetrated Against Public Companies and Related Internal Accounting Controls Requirements | The Commission issued a Report of Investigation regarding certain cyber-related frauds and public company issuer internal accounting controls requirements. The Report discusses a type of cyber-fraud -- called "business email compromise" -- where perpetrators pretended in emails to be high-level company executives or vendors, and then convinced company personnel to transmit large wire transfers to accounts controlled by the perpetrators. The Report explains that public companies should consider cyber threats when implementing internal accounting controls. | 10/16/2018 |
| Altaba Inc., f/d/b/a Yahoo! Inc. | Failure to disclose December 2014 data breach in which Russian hackers stole personal data related to more than 500 million Yahoo! user accounts; the data breach was not disclosed until September 2016. | 4/24/2018 |
Trading Suspensions
| Action Name | Description | Date Filed |
|---|---|---|
| American CryptoFed DAO LLC | The Securities and Exchange Commission instituted administrative proceedings against American CryptoFed DAO LLC (American CryptoFed), a Wyoming-based organization, to determine whether a stop order should be issued to suspend the registration of the offer and sale of two crypto assets, the Ducat token and the Locke token. | 11/18/2022 |
| American CryptoFed DAO LLC | The Commission instituted proceedings against American CryptoFed DAO LLC, a Wyoming-based organization, halting the effectiveness of the company’s registration of two digital tokens as securities. | 11/10/2021 |
| Long Blockchain Corp. | The Commission revoked registration of the securities of Long Blockchain Corp., a beverage business that had announced a shift to become a blockchain technology business which never became operational, for failure to file quarterly and annual reports. | 2/22/2021 |
| Bitcoin Generation, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of BTGN, inter alia, because of concerns about the accuracy and adequacy of information contained in BTGN’s public statements and because of stock promotional activity relating to BTGN and the market impact of such promotional activity. | 4/29/2019 |
| American Retail Group, Inc. aka Simex, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of ARGB amid questions surrounding statements claiming that the company had partnered with an SEC-qualified custodian for use with cryptocurrency transactions and that the company was conducting a token offering that was “officially registered in accordance [with] SEC requirements.” | 10/22/2018 |
| Bitcoin Tracker One and Ether Tracker One | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of CXBTF and CETHF because of confusion among market participants regarding the true nature of these instruments. | 9/9/2018 |
| Evolution Blockchain Group Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in Evolution Blockchain Group Inc. because of questions about the accuracy of information contained in a press release and concerns about recent unusual and unexplained market activity in the company’s common stock. | 6/25/2018 |
| IBITX Software Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in IBITX because of questions about the accuracy of assertions concerning the company’s development of alternative forms of currency and its operation of a cryptocurrency platform. | 4/20/2018 |
| HD View 360 Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information about the company, including certain statements regarding enhancing a subsidiary with blockchain technology. | 3/1/2018 |
| Cherubim Interests, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace including in press releases issued. | 2/16/2018 |
| PDX Partners, Inc., | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace about, among other things, the nature of the company’s business operations and the value of its assets. | 2/16/2018 |
| Victura Construction Group, Inc., | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace about, among other things, the nature of the company’s business operations and the value of its assets, including in press releases issued. | 2/16/2018 |
| UBI Blockchain Internet, Ltd. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of (i) questions regarding the accuracy of assertions, since at least September 2017, by UBIA in filings with the Commission regarding the company’s business operations; and (ii) concerns about recent, unusual and unexplained market activity in the company’s Class A common stock since at least November 2017. | 1/5/2018 |
| The Crypto Co. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace about, among other things, the compensation paid for promotion of the company, and statements in Commission filings about the plans of the company’s insiders to sell their shares of The Crypto Company’s common stock. | 12/18/2017 |
| In re Rocky Mountain Ayres, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of questions regarding by RMTN in a press release dated August 22, 2017, and in the “Project White Paper” documents, accessible through a link in the press release, concerning, among other things, the Kairos ETF. | 9/15/2017 |
| In re American Security Resources Corp. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of questions regarding information concerning the company’s transition to the cryptocurrency markets and early adoption of blockchain technology. | 8/24/2017 |
| In re First Bitcoin Capital Corp. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information about the company’s value of the company’s assets and capital structure. | 8/23/2017 |
| In re CIAO Group, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in this publicly-traded company because of questions regarding the accuracy of assertions concerning business plans in the telecommunications industry and plans for an ICO. | 8/9/2017 |
| In re Strategic Global Investments, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of this publicly-traded company because of questions regarding the accuracy of assertions by the company concerning ICOs. | 8/3/2017 |
| In re Sunshine Capital, Inc. | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of this publicly-traded company because of questions regarding the accuracy of assertions by the company concerning the liquidity and value of the company’s assets, namely DIBCOINS, a cryptocurrency the company’s majority shareholder had created. | 4/11/2017 |
| In re Imogo Mobile Technologies Corp. | The Commission suspended trading in the securities of this publicly-traded company amidst questions about its business which touted, among other things, the development and testing of a purportedly secure mobile Bitcoin platform. | 2/19/2014 |
Modified: March 20, 2024