Crypto

Application by the USA to collect evidence from the "Paxful cryptocurrency exchange" - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the Netherlands - for a criminal investigation into "Dutch citizen Adam Attahir for fraud and possession of a technical tool designed for committing a crime".

Criminal Judgment imposing a prison-term of seven-and-a-half years for a cryptocurrency-based securities fraud involving two Cayman Islands-domiciled, New York-based investment funds, Virgil Sigma Fund and VQR Multistrategy Fund, in USA v. Stefan He Qin, a citizen of Australia residing in New York, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Class Action Complaint in Ryan Cox v. CoinMarketCap OpCo LLC, described as Delaware company that operates "a coin ranking site"; Binance Capital Management Co. Ltd., d.b.a. Binance and Binance.com, described as the operator of "a cryptocurrency exchange"; BAM Trading Services Inc., d.b.a. Binance.us; Changpeng Zhao, apparently a citizen of Canada and China; Catherine Coley, Yi He, and Ted Lin at the U. S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract in Jingjing Zhou, of Connecticut v. Youbi Capital (Cayman) GP, of the Cayman Islands; Yaofei Chen, of New Jersey; Hyejin Lee, of New Jersey, and Chen Li, of New York, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging the sale of unregistered digital assets in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rivetz Corp., of Delaware; Rivetz International SEZC, of the Cayman Islands, and Steven K. Sprague, described as a resident of the Cayman Islands and Massachusetts, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Cayman Islands and Delaware components of crypto group Rivetz and their principal, George Sprague, are being sued by the SEC in the U.S. for allegedly selling unregistered digital assets that raised $18 million from 7,200 investors worldwide.

Public Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Think Capital Limited, part of the "ThinkMarkets group of companies", which "falsely claimed to have a licence issued by the Bermuda Monetary Authority" and which, when contacted by the BMA, claimed that "the statement was made in error and that, instead, it should have stated that it had been issued a licence by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority". Editor's Note: On its website at www.thinkmarkets.com, ThinkMarkets claims to operate "a premium multi-asset online brokerage with headquarters in London and Melbourne and hubs in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe and South America", and identifies group companies as: TF Global Markets Int Limited, of the Seychelles; TF Global Markets (UK) Limited, of England; TF Global Markets (Aust) Limited, of Australia; TF Global Markets (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., of South Africa; Think Capital Limited, of Bermuda, and TFG (Payments) Limited, of England. Research by OffshoreAlert also discovered other group companies, including one in the Cayman Islands called TF Global Markets (International) Ltd., which is identified on CIMA's website as receiving a "Securities - Full" license on April 12th, 2021.

Public Announcement by the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission that its Board "has resolved to propose that Minister of Finance consider revocation of digital asset exchange license of Huobi (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Huobi), currently named DSDAQ (Thailand) Co., Ltd." and ordered the company "to return all assets to its clients".

The U.S. SEC has sued individuals and companies based in California, India, and Hong Kong for allegedly perpetrating a $2 billion crypto fraud known as BitConnect.

USA's Sentencing Submission regarding a cryptocurrency-based investment fraud involving Cayman Islands-domiciled, New York-based investment funds in USA v. Stefan He Qin, a citizen of Australia residing in New York, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging a securities fraud "that ultimately succeeded in obtaining more than 325,000 Bitcoin, or approximately $2 billion, from investors worldwide" in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. BitConnect, described as "an unincorporated organization"; Satish Kumbhani, described as a citizen and resident of India; Glenn Arcaro, described as a citizen of the United States residing in California, and Future Money Ltd., of Hong Kong, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Amended Complaint alleging fraud and unregistered securities regarding the sale of cryptocurrency tokens involving Delaware and Cayman Islands-domiciled Crowd Machine in George Bachiashvili v. Charlie Shrem and Roger Tichenor at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Statement of Allegations in the matter of Aux Cayes Fintech Co. Ltd., described as a Seychelles-domiciled operator of "an online crypto asset trading platform", for "violating Ontario securities law", before the Ontario Securities Commission.

Retired Olympic speed skating champion Apolo Ohno and companies operating from Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malta, and Singapore that he allegedly founded are being sued in California for an alleged $50 million crypto fraud.

Judgment regarding an employment dispute in Leatrix v. Novus Fintech Limited, of Dubai, at the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. Editor's Note: Novus Fintech Limited was exposed as a fraud by OffshoreAlert in February 2021. The company is operated by United Kingdom national Stuart Coles and is part of a group whose principals include British/Irish serial investment fraudster Richard Fagan.

Complaint alleging theft, misappropriation, and securities fraud regarding the raising of $50 million "from investors based around the world, including within the United States" from the sale of "digital tokens" that were "neither registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor qualified for any exemption from registration with the SEC, thereby depriving investors of the benefit of the disclosures required by the federal securities laws" in Brian Kang, Skyblock LLC, Mid-Wilshire Consulting LLC, Prasad Hurra, David Kim, Blue Rock Group, Artemio Verduzo, David Kwon, and Young Jae Kwon v. Hybrid Trade Limited, described as operating from addresses in Hong Kong, Malta, and Singapore; Asia Digital Asset Exchange, described as operating from an address in Cyprus; Allysian Sciences, Apolo Ohno, a former Olympic speed skating champion; Rod Jao, Eugenio Pugliese, and Henry Liu at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Public Notice by FinCEN that it has imposed a fine of $100 million on HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong, and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, d.b.a. BitMEX, described as "a convertible virtual currency derivatives exchange".

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $100 million against the operators of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc Limited, of Hong Kong, and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Companies in Bermuda, Hong Kong, the Seychelles, and USA have agreed to pay $100 million to settle a complaint by the CFTC alleging they operated an unregistered cryptocurrency trading platform known as BitMEX.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $10.3 million on Poloniex, LLC, of Delaware, for operating "a digital asset trading platform" without registering "as a national securities exchange".

Class Action Complaint alleging a cryptocurrency-related fraud and sale of unregistered securities in Daniel Valenti, of Tampa, Florida v. Dfinity USA Research LLC, described as a Delaware company based in Palo Alto, California; Dfinity Foundation, of Switzerland, and Dominic Williams, of Palo Alto, California, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties on Blockchain Credit Partners, d.b.a. DeFi Money Market, of the Cayman Islands; Gregory Keough, and Derek Acree, both of Florida, for an alleged fraud that involved selling "more than $30 million of securities in unregistered offerings by using smart contracts and "decentralized finance" technology to sell digital tokens".

Director Details for Blockchain Credit Partners, d.b.a. DeFi Money Market, obtained from the Cayman Islands General Registry on August 6th, 2021.

Cayman Islands blockchain firm DeFi Money Market and its US founders, Gregory Keough and Derek Acree, have shut down their business and agreed to pay $13 million to settle SEC allegations that they perpetrated a $30 million fraud involving digital tokens.

Complaint alleging "the fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities known as UULA tokens" that raised "more than $9 million from over a thousand investors" in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Uulala Inc., Oscar Garcia, and Matthew Loughran at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Consent to Judgment of Uulala Inc. in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Uulala Inc., Oscar Garcia, and Matthew Loughran at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Consent to Judgment of Matthew Loughran in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Uulala Inc., Oscar Garcia, and Matthew Loughran at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Consent to Judgment of Oscar Garcia in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Uulala Inc., Oscar Garcia, and Matthew Loughran at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

A group called Uulala, which was the first applicant to be approved to conduct an Initial Coin Offering in crypto-friendly Bermuda, has been accused of perpetrating a $9 million digital tokens fraud in a complaint filed at federal court in California by the SEC - two-and-a-half years after the scheme was exposed by OffshoreAlert.

Emergency Petition for a Temporary Restraining Order involving cryptocurrency and "an illegal attack by a malicious actor that has recently been carrying out block re-organisation attacks" on a network called Bitcoin Satoshi Vision in GBM Global Holding Company Limited, of the Cayman Islands v. Unidentified Individuals at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging "Offering Materials were inaccurate and misleading" and "contained untrue statements of material facts" in Donald Ramsey v. Coinbase Global Inc., of Delaware, described as "the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States"; Brian Armstrong, Alesia J. Haas, Jennifer N. Jones, Surojit Chatterjee, Paul Grewal, Marc L. Andreessen, Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III, Kathryn Haun, Kelly Kramer, Gokul Rajaram, Fred Wilson, AH Capital Management LLC, Paradigm Fund LP, Ribbit Management Company LLC, Tiger Global Management LLC, Tiger Global Management LLC, Union Square Ventures LLC, and Viserion Investment Pte Ltd., of Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Class Action Complaint "on behalf of all investors who purchased Internet Computer Project tokens" alleging that the defendants "sold unregistered securities to investors in violation of the Securities Act" in Daniel Ocampo v. Dfinity USA Research LLC, of Delaware; Dfinity Stiftung, of Switzerland; Andreessen Horowitz, described as Menlo Park, California-based "private venture capital firm"; Polychain Capital, described as a San Francisco-based "cryptocurrency investment firm managing portfolios of digital assets", and Dominic Williams at the Superior Court of the State of California, San Mateo County.

Forfeiture Complaint regarding the "proceeds of a wire fraud scheme to steal, among other things, cryptocurrency using a cell phone SIM-swapping scheme" that allegedly involved Colton Jurisic, Ricky Handschumacher, and Conor Freeman in USA v. 60.20371501 Bitcoins at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $201,688 on Blotics Ltd., formerly doing business as Coinschedule Ltd., described as a United Kingdom-domiciled company that "owned and operated a once-popular website platform, www.coinschedule.com, that publicized current and upcoming offerings for different digital tokens and was accessible in the United States from 2016 to August 2019", for promoting a security without disclosing that it received compensation for doing so.

Complaint alleging fraud and computer hacking in SingularDTV GmbH, described as a New York-based Swiss company "that uses blockchain technology to create a decentralized distribution ecosystem for the entertainment and film industries" v. John Doe at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judgment for $700,000, plus interest, in Gustavo Lopez v. Uulala Inc. at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles. Editor's Note: The Uulala Group became the first applicant to be approved for an Initial Coin Offering in Bermuda in October, 2018, with Bermuda's Premier, David Burt, recording a video for the group that it used for promotional purposes on its website. Uulala was exposed by OffshoreAlert in January, 2019.

Complaint in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Eric J. Watson, described as "a New Zealand citizen and believed to be a resident of London, United Kingdom"; Oliver-Barret Lindsay, described as "a Canadian citizen and resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" and, during the relevant period, "principal of CMGT Capital Management, a Cayman Islands-exempt broker-dealer registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority", and Gannon Giguiere, described as a resident of Newport Coast, California" who "owned and operated TheMoneyStreet.com, a stock promotion website", at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The U.S. SEC has charged three people, including a Canadian former resident of the Cayman Islands, Oliver-Barret Lindsay, and a New Zealander residing in England, Eric Watson, with fraud involving publicly-listed Long Blockchain Corp., formerly Long Island Iced Tea Corp.

Plea Agreement regarding an allegedly fraudulent digital assets scheme involving Belize-domiciled Dropil Inc. in USA v. Jeremy David McAlpine at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Plea Agreement regarding an allegedly fraudulent digital assets scheme involving Belize-domiciled Dropil Inc. in USA v. Zachary Michael Matar at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Criminal Information alleging securities fraud involving initial coin offerings and Belize-domiciled Dropil Inc. in USA v. Jeremy David McAlpine and Zachary Michael Matar at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

News Release by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission that it has filed a criminal complaint against Binance, described as "a digital asset exchange platform provider", for allegedly operating without a license.

Public Statement by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority that "Binance, the Binance Group and Binance Holdings Limited are not registered, licensed, regulated or otherwise authorised by the Authority to operate a crypto-currency exchange from or within the Cayman Islands" and that it is "currently investigating" whether "this group of companies has any activities operating in or from within the Cayman Islands which may fall within the scope of the Authority's regulatory oversight.

In a lawsuit filed in Florida, investors are suing Cayman Islands-domiciled cryptocurrency start-up Crowd Machine and others, including two crypto exchanges in the Seychelles, Australian Craig Sproule, and American Charlie Shrem, alleging they are victims of "a massive investment fraud".

Complaint alleging fraud involving cryptocurrency in Jason Bonayer, a U. S. citizen residing in New York, NY, and George Bachiashvili, a citizen of Georgia residing in Tbilisi v. Crowd Machine Inc., of Delaware; Crowd Machine SEZC, of the Cayman Islands; Metavine Inc., of Delaware; Craig Sproule, described as a citizen of Australia residing in San Jose, California; James Hanley, Anne Osborne, Ben Gorlick, Kurt Pfluger, Camden Dore, Roger Tichenor, Charlie Shrem, Bittrex, described as "a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Seychelles", and HitBTC, also described as "a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Seychelles", at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Complaint alleging fraud involving "Bitcoin losses" in Huobi Co. Ltd., described as a South Korea-based "international cryptocurrency exchange and one of the most prominent names in the digital asset industry" v. Marto HG Digital Asset Group Fund I GP LLC, Marto HG Digital Asset Group Fund I LP, Marto HG Digital Asset Group LLC, all of Delaware, and Taotao He, of New York, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

British national Jonathan Ellis has filed a complaint in England against cryptocurrency firms domiciled in the Cayman Islands, Estonia, Lithuania, Seychelles, Switzerland, and United Kingdom, including cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Statement of Allegations alleging unregistered securities activity involving cryptocurrencies in the Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission v. Bybit Fintech Limited, described as a British Virgin Islands-domiciled "online crypto asset trading platform", and which appears to be based in Singapore, before the Ontario Securities Commission.

Defendant's Sentencing Memorandum in USA v. Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson, a citizen of Sweden, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission is seeking fines and other penalties against British Virgin Islands-domiciled, Singapore-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bybit for operating "contrary to the public interest".