Agent Smith in the Matrix described humans as a “virus. A disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.” While not alleging all human beings are a virus, the U.S. government views John McAfee, the...more
11/6/2020
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Bitcoin ,
Celebrity Endorsements ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Influencers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Twitter ,
Virtual Currency
Late last month, SoluTech, Inc. and Nathan Pitruzello consented to a cease-and-desist order with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). From April 2018 through March 2019, SoluTech, a technology start-up...more
10/9/2020
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
After an extended fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Telegram has agreed to resolve charges the company's unregistered offering of digital tokens called "Grams" violated the United States federal...more
Regulators routinely warn the public not to believe everything you read on the internet and that is especially true as it relates to start-up Centra Tech, Inc. (“Centra Tech”). Founded by Robert Farkas, Sohrab Sharma and...more
6/25/2020
/ Celebrity Endorsements ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Debit Cards ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
FinTech ,
Influencers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Instagram ,
MasterCard ,
Misleading Statements ,
Offering Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Startups ,
Visa Inc
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is asking a court to freeze the assets of a cryptocurrency mining and multilevel marketing scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of $12 million. The SEC's complaint alleges...more
6/16/2020
/ Asset Freeze ,
Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
With the world slowly coming out of the COVID-19 lock down and the economy hopefully on the path to recovery there have been many developments in the blockchain / crypto space over the last few weeks....more
5/19/2020
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
FinTech ,
Fraudulent Investment ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Stock Exchange ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Like the Shakespearean rose, Ripple Labs faces another claim that its digital asset XRP is a security in a new federal lawsuit in California. The suit filed by Bitcoin...more
The SEC recently filed suit against Dropil, Inc. (“Dropil”), Jeremy McAlpine, Zachary Matar, and Patrick O’Hara, alleging the defendants had defrauded investors in an unregistered offerings of securities described by the...more
The CFTC recently filed a multi-million dollar fraud action charging three individuals and three companies with fraudulently soliciting tens of millions of customers and prospective customers to open and fund off-exchange...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently filed settled charges against Bloomberg Tradebook LLC (Bloomberg) for making material misrepresentations and omitting material facts about how the firm handled certain...more
While many businesses and government offices have closed or slowed as a result of the onset of COVID-19, the Securities and Exchange Commission remains open for business. On April 3, 2020, Sagar Teotia, the SEC’s Chief...more
It began as an obscure experiment in unregulated virtual currency. Initially undistinguished from Bitcoin, blockchain evolved to become one of the pillars of web 3.0, enabling new means of trust, transparency, security and...more
2/20/2020
/ Accredited Investors ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Self-Reporting ,
Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
On December 30, 2019 the Second Circuit issued its opinion in United States v. Blaszczak, finding that the government can criminally prosecute insider trading under 18 U.S.C. 1348 without proving personal benefit to the...more
1/9/2020
/ Appeals ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Defense Strategies ,
Federal Prosecutors ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Public Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud
Disclosure-based strike suits have died an inglorious and richly-deserved death in Delaware. Lest deal practitioners and their clients be lulled into a false sense of security, recent decisional law drives home the point...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently issued an opinion driving home the point, once again, that attention should be paid to contractually providing for the retention of the attorney-client privilege by the selling company...more