The SEC’s complaint further stated that ICOBox acted as an unregistered broker by facilitating ICO’s that raised another $650 million for dozens of clients.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued ICOBox and its founder Nikolay Evdokimov for conducting an illegal securities offering and for acting as unregistered brokers.
In a press release on Sept. 18, the SEC claimed that ICOBox and Evdokimov sold the firm’s ICO tokens to more than 2,000 investors in an unregistered coin offering in 2017.
SEC says ICOBox’s digital tokens are worthless
The SEC goes on to say that the defendants claimed that the tokens would increase in value upon trading and that ICO token holders would be able to swap them at a discount for other tokens promoted on the ICOBox platform. The SEC claims that the ICO tokens are now virtually worthless, adding:
“By ignoring the registration requirements of the federal securities laws, ICOBox and Evdokimov exposed investors to investments, which are now virtually worthless, without providing information that is critical to making informed investment decisions.”
The commission has charged ICOBox and Evdokimov with violating federal securities laws and is seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and civil money penalties.
First-ever SEC-qualified token offering in U.S. raises $23 million
Cointelegraph recently reported that Blockstack PBC, a decentralized computing network, announced that it managed to raise more than $23 million in the first SEC-approved token offering.
The SEC gave Blockstack the go-ahead to run a multi-million public token offering under regulation A+. Muneeb Ali, co-founder and CEO of Blockstack PBC, alongside co-founder Ryan Shea, reportedly spent 10 months and approximately $2 million to gain approval from the SEC in advance of their token offering.
SEC Charges Fantasy Market Founder With Orchestrating a Fraudulent ICO
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Jonathan C. Lucas, the founder of adult entertainment marketplace Fantasy Market, with orchestrating a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO).
According to the SEC complaint published on Sept. 23, Lucas received around $63,000 in cryptocurrency from more than 100 investors “through the fraudulent offer and sale of unregistered digital securities of Fantasy Market.” The document states:
“As alleged in the complaint, Lucas made numerous materially false statements in a whitepaper and online to induce investors to participate in the ICO. Among other alleged misstatements, Lucas claimed that a «working-beta» version of the company’s adult-entertainment platform existed when one did not, presented a fictitious management team, and misrepresented his own experience. After garnering media attention over investor complaints, the complaint states, Lucas returned the funds raised to investors.”
A civil penalty of $15,000
The SEC’s lawsuit was filed in the Manhattan federal district court. It is stated that Lucas has violated several securities laws related to countering fraud. It is also noted that Lucas has consented, without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, and was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $15,000.
As Cointelegraph reported recently, Canadian social media company Kik decided to downsize and shut down its messenger due to the firm’s need to manage resources in a legal battle with the SEC.
