Cryptocurrency articles proliferate the headlines these days, but more often than not, the subject matter deals with victims and the losses they have sustained at the hands of clever conmen. Per one insider: “As fascinating as the crypto-sphere might be, it’s definitely not a place for the faint-hearted. Sure, cryptocurrencies have taken the world by…
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has obtained an emergency court order halting a planned initial coin offering (ICO), which backers falsely claimed was approved by the SEC. The order also halts ongoing pre-ICO sales by the company, Blockvest LLC and its founder, Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III. An SEC complaint…
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has obtained permanent officer-and-director and penny stock bars against the founder of a company who perpetrated a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) to fund oil exploration and drilling in California. According to the SEC’s order, David T. Laurance and Tomahawk Exploration LLC attempted to…
Read morePan-European financial regulator European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today the latest iteration of its Risk Dashboard, covering risks in the EU’s securities markets for Q1-2018. Overall, ESMA stated that its overall risk assessment remains unchanged from Q4-2017, at high levels. ESMA said that it remains concerned about risks posed to investors, which have…
Read moreThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it has obtained a court order halting an ongoing fraud involving an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised as much as $21 million from investors in and outside the U.S. The court also approved an emergency asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for Titanium Blockchain…
Read moreAustralia financial regulator ASIC has issued a statement indicating that it is focused on misleading or deceptive conduct in the marketing and selling of digital or virtual tokens via initial coin offerings (ICOs). ASIC said that these offers can involve significant risks for investors that are often not disclosed or well understood. ASIC said that…
Read moreThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced additional fraud charges stemming from an investigation of Centra Tech Inc.’s $32 million initial coin offering (ICO) In an amended complaint filed today, the SEC charged one of Centra’s co-founders, Raymond Trapani, in a fraudulent scheme related to Centra’s 2017 ICO, in which the company issued “CTR…
Read moreThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has charged two co-founders of a purported financial services start-up with orchestrating a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) that raised more than $32 million from thousands of investors last year. Criminal authorities separately charged and arrested both defendants. The SEC's complaint alleges that Sohrab “Sam”…
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