United States of America

Complaint alleging the defendant "acted as an unregistered broker" for Charlie Abujudeh, who is a convicted securities fraudster, and others in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mark Borden, described as "an attorney licensed to practice law in Canada and a resident of Thornhill, Ontario, Canada", at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

SEC's Notice of Joint Liability Against Relief Defendant SION Trading FZE, of the United Arab Emirates, regarding an alleged crypto-based investment fraud scheme in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Arbitrade Ltd., of Bermuda; Cryptobontix Inc., of Canada; Troy R.J. Hogg, of Canada; James L. Goldberg, Stephen L. Braverman, and Max W. Barber, as Defendants, and SION Trading FZE, as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint in U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Mek Global Limited, of the Seychelles; PhoenixFin PTE. Ltd., of Singapore; Flashdot Limited, of the Cayman Islands, and Peken Global Limited, of the Seychelles, "collectively doing business as a centralized digital asset exchange under the name 'KuCoin'", at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

SEC's unopposed motion for the issuance of letters rogatory to Fabio Gesufatto, Blu Stella Consulting Group Inc., Ommid Faghani, Kevin Rod, Scott Reeves, Elie Boustani, and Francois Latreille, who were described as citizens of Canada residing in Quebec, Canada, for a complaint alleging securities fraud in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Michael Caridi at the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Cease and Desist Order in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cloopen Group Holding Limited, described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled, China-based "provider of cloud-based communications products and services to enterprises of various sizes located primarily in China", in an administrative proceeding before the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Complaint alleging "a global, crypto asset-related, multi-level marketing pyramid and Ponzi scheme that raised over $1.7 billion from victims worldwide, including millions from U.S. investors" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Xue Samuel Lee, a.k.a. Sam Lee, described as a citizen of Australia residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Brenda Indah Chunga, a.k.a. Bitcoin Beautee, at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Amended Complaint alleging "a fraudulent scheme by Caridi, the former chairman and chief executive of Tree of Knowledge International, Inc." in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Michael Caridi at the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Complaint alleging fraud in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Debiex, as Defendant, and Zhāng Chéng Yáng, described as "a Chinese ntional", as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Complaint in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Yueyu Bao, of Shanghai, China, at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Complaint alleging "the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of Future FinTech Group Inc. (“Future FinTech”), a Nasdaq-listed corporation, manipulated the stock price of Future FinTech by buying hundreds of thousands of Future FinTech shares to artificially increase the company’s stock price shortly before and after he became CEO in March 2020" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Shanchun Huang, described as a resident of London, England, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Opinion and Order granting, inter alia, SEC's motion for summary judgment "involving defendants’ unregistered offers and sales of LUNA and MIR in violation of Sections 5(a) and (5c) of the Securities Act" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd., of Singapore, and Do Hyeong Kwon, described in the complaint as a resident of South Korea and Singapore, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

SEC's Emergency Ex Parte Motion for Asset Freeze in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rishi Kapoor, Location Ventures LLC, Urbin LLC, Patriots United LLC, Location Properties LLC, Location Properties LLC, Location Development LLC, Location Capital LLC, Location Ventures Resources LLC, Location Equity Holdings LLC, Location GP Sponsor LLC, 515 Valencia Sponsor LLC, LV Montana Sponsor LLC, Urbin Founders Group LLC, Urbin CG Sponsor LLC, 515 Valencia Partners LLC, LV Montana Phase I LLC, Stewart Grove 1 LLC, Stewart Grove 2 LLC, Location Zamora Parent LLC, Urbin Coral Gables Partners LLC, Urbin Coconut Grove Partners LLC, Urbin Miami Beach Partners LLC, and Urbin Miami Beach II Phase 1 LLC at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint "halt an ongoing fraud carried out by three related companies" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye, a.k.a. Dozy Mmobuosi, described as a resident of London, England; Tingo Group Inc., described as a Delaware company based in New Jersey; Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc., f.k.a. Tingo Inc., described as a Nevada company based in Utah, and Tingo International Holdings Inc., described as a Delaware company based in Stamford, Connecticut, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the defendant "has failed and continues to fail to comply with the Commission’s "Custody Rule", which, to ensure the safety of client assets, requires an annual report from an independent public accountant of Brite Australia’s internal controls" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Brite Advisors USA, Inc. at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the defendants operated - in the form of a crypto platform - as a securities exchange, broker/dealer, and clearing agency without being registered in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Payward Inc. and Payward Ventures Inc., collectively doing business as Kraken, at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Complaint alleging "a multi-year investment adviser fraud orchestrated by Hughes, Individual 1, Prophecy Asset Management LP, and Individual 2" involving entities in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and Delaware in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. John Hughes at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Complaint alleging the defendants "perpetrated a massive fraudulent scheme that generated millions through the unregistered offer and sale of a crypto asset security called the SafeMoon Token" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, Kyle Nagy, Braden John Karony, and Thomas Glenn Smith at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, and Other Relief in Federal Trade Commission v. Voyager Digital LLC, Voyager Digital Holdings Inc., Voyager Digital Ltd., of Canada, and Stephen Ehrlich, as Defendants, and Francine Ehrlich, as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in Federal Trade Commission v. Voyager Digital LLC, Voyager Digital Holdings Inc., Voyager Digital Ltd., of Canada, and Stephen Ehrlich, as Defendants, and Francine Ehrlich, as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the defendant and Voyager Digital, of which he was CEO, "fraudulently solicited participation in and operated a digital asset trading and custody platform in a manner that resulted in Voyager’s bankruptcy, owing its U.S. customers over $1.7 billion" in U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Stephen Ehrlich at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the defendants, "doing business under multiple brand names including Trade2Get, Coinbull, Cryptonxt, Tradenix, Cryptobravos, Nittrex, Wobit, and Pinance", perpetrated a crypto-based investment fraud in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Or Patreanu, of Israel; Snir Hananya, of Italy; Artem Prokopenko, of Ukraine; Elijah Samson, of Germany, and Expected Value Plus Ltd., of Seychelles, at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Complaint alleging misrepresentation of ownership involving, inter alia, "a Swedish trust" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Vista Financial Advisors LLC and Ruben Cedrick Williams at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging "a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme, affinity fraud, and unregistered offering of securities" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Aras Investment Business Group S.A.P.I. de C.V., of Chihuahua, Mexico; Armando Gutierrez Rosas, Maria de Lourdes Tolentino Roque, Diayanira Rendon Trejo, Efren Norberto Quiroz Gardea, and Luis Ricardo Quiroz Gardea, all citizens of Mexico, at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Complaint alleging the defendant "made material misstatements to two entities that would each invest $5 million in Woodstock Partners, a charter school in Minnesota and a real estate fund in Michigan" involving entities in the Cayman Islands, Delaware, and New Jersey in U.S. Securities and exchange Commission v. William E. Miller, of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the defendants operated as "investment advisers for the benefit of a single client: a wealthy former Russian political official living outside the United States" without being registered with the SEC, managing "a private fund securities portfolio with an estimated total value of $7.2 billion", in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Concord Management LLC and Michael Matlin, both of New York, USA, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Editor's Note: The 'Russian client' is not identified in the SEC's complaint but The New York Times reported that it was Roman Abramovich.

Complaint alleging the defendants operated as a broker-dealer without being registered in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Wilson J. Rondini III, of Florida, USA; Falcon Capital LLP, of the United Kingdom, and Falcon Capital Partners Limited, of Hong Kong, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging "the fraudulent offer and sale of securities" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. NDB Inc., described as a Wyoming-domiciled and based "private technology startup company formerly based in San Francisco and Pleasanton, California", and Nima Golsharifi, described as a resident of London, England, at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Complaint alleging "misuse and unreported use of funds raised in a 2016 initial public offering (IPO) as well as Defendants’ failure to disclose millions of dollars in related-party transactions that benefitted Defendant Qi’s family members" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Guosheng Qi, described as a resident of China and Hong Kong, and Gridsum Holding Inc., described as Cayman Islands-domiciled "cloud-based analytics company", as Defendants, and Huijie He, described as a resident of China and Hong Kong, as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging insider trading by the defendant "while employed at an international law firm with an office in Washington, D.C." while employed there "as a visiting international attorney from Brazil" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Romero Cabral da Costa Neto at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Complaint alleging securities fraud regarding "his private sale of restricted common stock in ECom Products Group Corporation, a Florida corporation that purportedly owns, consolidates, and manages e-commerce platforms" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Andrew Wyles Waters, a citizen of Australia, as Defendant, and Helen Q. Waters, a citizen of Australia, as Relief Defendant, at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Complaint regarding "Defendants’ scheme that raised approximately $3.5 million from at least 17 investors through a fraudulent and unregistered securities offering" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Christopher Slaga, a.k.a. Keith Renko, described as a resident of Barbados; Q4 Capital Group LLC, J4 Capital Advisors LLC, and Hayden Greene at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Complaint in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Charles Rustin Holzer, of Wellington, Florida, USA, as Defendant, and Maglione International Ltd. and Frontenac Investments Ltd., both of the Cayman Islands, as Relief Defendants, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sisu Capital LLC, of California, USA; Timothy Overture, of California, USA, and Hansueli Overture, described as a resident of Hallau, Switzerland, at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $1.4 million on RTW Investments LP for regulatory breaches involving entities in the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and USA.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $1 million on Corvex Management LP for regulatory breaches "in connection with the firm's activities related to certain special purpose acquisition companies" that, inter alia, involved entities in the Cayman Islands and Delaware.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $3,820 on Michele Mason Lohan, described as “a film director and internet personality known as 'Kendra Lust'" residing in Michigan, USA, for promoting a crypto security known as “Tronix tokens” without disclosing that she was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $168,000 on Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, described as "a well-known entertainer and internet personality known as 'Akon'" residing in Georgia, USA, for promoting a crypto security known as “Tronix tokens” without disclosing that he was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $48,000 on Shaffer Smith, described as “a well-known entertainer and internet personality known as 'Ne-Yo'” residing in Georgia, USA, for promoting a crypto security known as “Tronix tokens” without disclosing that he was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $40,000 on Miles McCollum, described as "a well-known recording artist and internet media personality known as 'Lil Yachty'" residing in Georgia, USA, for promoting a crypto security known as “Tronix tokens” without disclosing that he was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $100,000 on Jake Paul, described as "a well-known internet personality and professional boxer" residing in Puerto Rico, for promoting a crypto security known as "Tronix tokens" without disclosing that he was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $40,000 on Lindsay Lohan, described as "a well-known actress, singer, and internet personality" residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for promoting a crypto security known as "Tronix tokens" without disclosing that she was paid to do so.

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $103,591 on African Gold Acquisition Corp., described as "a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with its principal place of business in New York, New York", for, inter alia, the entity's "failure to implement sufficient internal controls enabled its former chief financial officer [Cooper Morgenthau] to misappropriate nearly all of the money in African Gold’s operating bank account and to otherwise effectively use African Gold’s operating bank account as his own personal account for over one year".

Press Release by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing that Nexo Capital Inc., of the Cayman Islands, has agreed to pay $45 million in penalties for conducting an "unregistered offering of crypto asset lending product".

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a civil money penalty of $22.5 million on Nexo Capital Inc., described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled provider of "crypto asset-related financial products and services", for an unregistered securities offering.

Consent Order imposing a fine of $50 million in the Department of Financial Services v. Coinbase Inc.

Public Notice by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control that Bittrex Inc., which operates a crypto exchange, has agreed to pay $24.2 million to settle an investigation into "violations of multiple sanctions programs".

Consent Order imposing a penalty of $29 million, of which $5 million will be paid after a $24 million credit to OFAC is taken into account, for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act in Financial Crimes Enforcement Network v. Bittrex Inc., a crypto exchange.

Order Instituting Administrative Proceedings in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Leroy King, described as "a dual citizen of both the United States and Antigua and Barbuda" who "served as the Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission, an agency of the Antiguan government, from approximately 2002 to 2009" and is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after pleaded guilty to criminal charges regarding a fraud committed by former banker Allen Stanford

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $1.26 million on Kimberly Kardashian, described as "a well-known media personality and businesswoman" for promoting "a crypto asset security" known as EthereumMax (EMAX) without disclosing that she received compensation of "approximately $250,000".

Statement of Charges in Washington State Department of Financial Institutions v. Nexo Inc., of the Cayman Islands; Nexo Capital Inc., of the Cayman Islands, and Antoni Trenchev, a citizen of Bulgaria.