SEC lands $700K victory in another ICO court case

Another ICO case comes to a close.

Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 11, 2020

After years of legal action from United States governing bodies, Blockvest, a 2018 initial coin offering, or ICO, has received its final orders.

“The SEC, as a government agency, seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of funds received from Defendants’ illegal conduct, and civil penalties,” said a court document filed on Thursday. The court case takes aim at both Blockvest, and its founder, Reginald Buddy Ringgold III, also known as Rasool Abdul Rahim El.

The Securities and Exchange Commission put the brakes on Blockvest in October 2018. The following two years saw a number of legal dealings and developments. Today’s news brings the saga to a close.

The SEC’s rationale for permanent injunction claims Blockvest and Ringgold knew their actions were wrong, but proceeded with the ICO anyway, covering up what they could during legal proceedings. Ringgold had not registered the token sale with the SEC but claimed otherwise:

“Defendants misrepresented that the initial coin offering was ‘registered’ with and ‘approved’ by the SEC and used SEC’s logo,” the document detailed.

The defendants also falsely claimed connections to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, and the National Futures Association, or NFA.

Additionally, the document lists other offenses, such as inventing:

“A fictitious regulatory agency, the Blockchain Exchange Commission (‘BEC’), creating its own fake government seal, logo, and mission statement that are nearly identical to the SEC’s seal, logo, mission statement as well as using the same address as the SEC’s headquarters.”

Blockvest and Ringgold must pay multiple sums of compensation, including refunding the capital that participants put toward in the offering. Disgorgement payments, interest and civil penalties come out to a cost of $696,097.90, as per the document. The defendants must also abide by a number of restraints and conditions.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Benjamin Pirus.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Kik Interactive Reaches $5 Mln Settlement With SEC For Running Unregistered ICO

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 10/23/2020 9:59 AM ET

Messaging startup Kik Interactive reached a $5 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges of running an unregistered offering of digital “Kin” tokens in 2017 that violated the federal securities laws.

The SEC had filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 4, 2019. The court approved the negotiated settlement between Kik and the SEC. The court’s decision recognized that Kik was engaged in a single, illegal offering of securities.

According to the complaint, the SEC alleged that Kik sold digital asset securities to U.S. investors without registering their offer and sale as required by the U.S. securities laws.

The court found that Kik’s sales of “Kin” tokens were sales of investment contracts, and therefore of securities, and that Kik violated the federal securities laws when it conducted an unregistered offering of securities that did not qualify for any exemption from registration requirements. The court further found that Kik’s private and public token sales were a single integrated offering.

Apart from the monetary settlement, the final judgment permanently enjoins Kik from violating the registration provisions. Kik is further required, for the next three years, to provide notice to the SEC before engaging in enumerated future issuances, offers, sales, and transfers of digital assets.

Kik, which was founded by CEO Ted Livingston, in September 2017 created its very own native cryptocurrency known as Kin based on the Ethereum blockchain. It was launched as an ERC-20 token for the initial sale and distribution of tokens. The company had raised around $98 million in its ICO at the end of 2017.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Actor Steven Seagal Charged With Unlawful ICO Promotion

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/28/2020 9:44 AM ET

Steven Seagal, well-known Hollywood actor and producer, has been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with unlawfully promoting an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). He is charged for failing to disclose payments received by him for promoting an ICO on social media, particularly in a webinar with potential investors.

The promotions were made between about February 12 and March 6, 2018.

“These investors were entitled to know about payments Seagal received or was promised to endorse this investment so they could decide whether he may be biased,” said Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit.

Bitcoiin2Gen announced in a press release, “Zen Master Steven Seagal Has Become the Brand Ambassador of Bitcoiin2Gen.” The press release also included a quotation from Seagal stating that he endorsed the ICO “wholeheartedly.” Seagal was promised $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of B2G tokens in exchange for his promotion.

However, the company paid Seagal only about $157,000 for these promotions, but he failed to disclose in his posts any information about the fact or amount of compensation he received.

Seagal, aged 67, agreed to settle the charges for the violation while promoting Bitcoiin2Gen ICO in 2018.

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s charges, Seagal agreed to pay disgorgement of $157,000, plus prejudgment interest of $16,448.76, and a civil money penalty of $157,000 penalty to the SEC for transfer to the general fund of the U.S Treasury.

The total settlement will be paid in five installments over a period of 340 days. Seagal also agreed not to promote any securities, digital or otherwise, for three years.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe