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PlexCorps, et al.

Litigation Release No. 24170 / June 20, 2018

Securities and Exchange Commission v. PlexCorps, et al., Civil Action No. 17-cv-07007 (E.D.N.Y., filed Dec. 1, 2017)

On June 15, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an additional emergency court order to freeze the assets of Dominic Lacroix, a recidivist Quebec securities law violator who the SEC had previously sued for securities fraud and against whom the SEC had obtained an emergency asset freeze in December of 2017. The order was unsealed on June 18. The SEC's request for an additional asset freeze, filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, alleges that, since the original freeze in December, Lacroix had been using secret accounts, including an account in his brother's name but which he controlled, to improperly dissipate for personal use digital assets obtained from investors during the PlexCoin Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

The SEC's original complaint charged Lacroix, as well as his partner, Sabrina Paradis-Royer, and PlexCorps, with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act). The complaint also alleges that Lacroix and PlexCorps violated Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act.  The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus interest, and penalties.  For Lacroix, the SEC also seeks an officer-and-director bar and a bar from offering digital securities against Lacroix and Paradis-Royer.