SEC | FinTelegram News

Category: SEC

SEC
ticker

September 23, 2024

Harassment? SEC Seeks Court Order to Compel Elon Musk’s Testimony in Twitter Acquisition Probe!

The SEC has requested a court order to compel Elon Musk to testify about his $44 billion Twitter acquisition, investigating potential securities law violations. Musk’s legal team claims the SEC is harassing him, but the agency insists new evidence necessitates further questioning. This case highlights the growing scrutiny on executives’ use of social media to communicate material information.

September 19, 2024

SEC Charges DeFi Platform Rari Capital and Founders for Misleading Investors and Acting as Unregistered Brokers

The SEC’s case against the crypto DeFi firm Rari Capital is a clear warning that DeFi platforms offering unregistered securities and misleading investors will face regulatory consequences, regardless of their claims of autonomy or decentralization. Rari Capital offered two investment products, which functioned like crypto asset investment funds, allowing investors to deposit crypto assets in lending pools.

SEC
US DOJ

September 18, 2024

U.S. DOJ and SEC Charge Former CEO and CFO With Fraud and Misleading Auditors!

SEC and DOJ cracked down on fraudulent financial reporting at the tech company Kubient. The company's top executives were misleading investors about revenue, which was central to raising millions. Former CEO Paul Roberts faces up to 20 years for orchestrating this scheme. Kubient is a digital advertising technology whose shares were publicly traded on the Nasdaq between August 2020 and November 2023 under the ticker “KBNT.”

Auditors
SEC

September 18, 2024

Audit Firm Prager Metis Settles SEC Charges for Negligence in FTX Audits!

Auditor firm Prager Metis’s negligence in auditing FTX stripped investors of crucial protections, ultimately exposing them to the collapse of one of the biggest crypto frauds in history. The firm agreed to pay $1.95 million to settle charges related to the FTX audits and separate auditor independence violations. The U.S. SEC’s action underscores auditors' vital role as financial gatekeepers.

September 12, 2024

eToro Settles with SEC, Restricts Crypto Trading

Under its chair, Gary Gensler, the SEC is taking massive action against crypto companies in the U.S. The regulator believes that most coins and tokens qualify as securities, and therefore, the issuers and exchanges need appropriate registration. The U.S. subsidiary of the Israeli eToro broker scheme has also been sued for this reason. eToro settled with the SEC with a $1.5 million payment.

September 9, 2024

U.S. Regulator SEC Charges Seven Public Companies for Violating Whistleblower Protection Rules!

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged seven public U.S. companies with using agreements that restricted employees from reporting securities law violations, resulting in over $3 million in penalties. The SEC takes strict action against organizations and individuals who seek to contractually restrict whistleblowers' rights. The regulator needs insiders to disclose financial wrongdoing and compliance violations.

September 4, 2024

SEC and Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX in Dispute Over Repayment Plan

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has proposed a plan to repay its creditors using U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, aiming to distribute between $14.5 billion to $16.3 billion—about $5.3 billion more than the initial owed amount. However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may oppose this plan and has indicated it reserves the right to challenge the proposed transactions, Benzinga reports.

September 4, 2024

SEC Charges Galois Capital for Custody Failures and Misleading Investors

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has settled charges against Florida-based Galois Capital Management LLC, a former registered investment adviser for a private fund focused on crypto assets. Galois Capital was charged with failing to comply with regulations concerning safeguarding client assets, including crypto assets considered securities.

August 30, 2024

Nigerian Fintech Ex-CEO Dozy Mmobuosi Fined $32 Million in SEC Fraud Case!

Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi, the former CEO of Tingo Group, has been fined nearly $32 million by a New York federal judge in connection with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud lawsuit. Mmobuosi and his companies were accused of inflating the financial performance of his companies, including fabricating financial statements and misrepresenting assets. Mmobuosi did not defend against the SEC allegations.

August 28, 2024

SEC Charges China-Based QZ Asset Management in $6 Million Fraud Scheme

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged China-based QZ Asset Management and its CEO with defrauding investors out of at least $6 million through false claims about investment safety and fake ties with reputable banks and law firms. The lawsuit is interesting because the SEC states that it cannot determine the identity of CEO Blake Yeung Pu Lei, who is allegedly 37 years old, nor does it know his whereabouts.

August 28, 2024

SEC Lawsuit Against Kraken Moves Forward Amid Continued Regulatory Crackdown in the U.S.

While the EU has created a comprehensive regulatory framework for the crypto sector with MiCA, the U.S. SEC operates on the basis of a decades-old framework designed for legacy securities, with a “regulation by enforcement” approach, as in the case of Kraken. The SEC's lawsuit against Kraken for operating as an unregistered securities exchange will proceed to trial, intensifying the legal challenges facing major crypto platforms in the U.S.

August 27, 2024

SEC Charges Abra with Unregistered Crypto Asset Sales and Investment Company Violations

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed settled charges against Abra for offering unregistered crypto asset securities and operating as an unregistered investment company. The SEC’s complaint also alleges that Abra operated for at least two years as an unregistered investment company because it issued securities and held more than 40% of its total assets, excluding cash, in investment securities, including its loans of crypto assets to institutional borrowers.

US Treasury Forgives Ukraine Looters!

On 26 September 2024, the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ‘FinCEN’ made the astonishing decision to drop sanctions against ABLV Bank of Latvia. ABLV was sanctioned in 2018 for a list of reasons, including helping Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s bagman, Serhiy Kurchenko, steal billions of dollars from Ukraine.

Gurbir Grewal’s Departure from the SEC: His New Position and Potential Impact on Crypto Regulation!

Gurbir S. Grewal, the former Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has left his position to join Milbank LLP, one of the most innovative and prestigious law firms globally. This transition from his high-profile regulatory role to private practice is likely to have lasting implications, particularly on the SEC’s enforcement strategy in the crypto sector.

Warning Against The Imminent Danger of Pig Butchering For The Dawning Cyber Society!

Pig butchering scams are a devastating form of cybercrime that blend romance and investment fraud, leaving victims emotionally and financially shattered. These sophisticated operations, run by organized crime syndicates, often exploit human trafficking victims as unwilling scammers. The perpetrators meticulously cultivate trust over months, luring targets into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments through fake platforms.

MLM Schemes

Latest Arrests in $4 Billion Forex AI Fraud Scheme OmegaPro and the Austrian Connection!

FinTelegram has reported on the fraudulent crypto MLM schemes OMNIA Tech and OmegaPro several times in the past. This week, various media outlets have reported the arrest of Robert Velghe in Turkey, who has played a crucial role in both scams. The OmegaPro MLM scam is believed to have stolen around $4 billion from victims worldwide. Here is our update with a request for additional information from whistleblowers.

Crypto MLM Scam: David Carmona Sentenced to 121 Months for IcomTech Crypto Ponzi Scheme!

iComTech was one of the numerous fraudulent MLM schemes that used cryptocurrencies as a means of fraud in parallel with the crypto hype of 2017/18. David Carmora started IcomTech in approximately 2018 with other co-conspirators as a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company. The scheme promised to earn its victims high profits and guaranteed daily returns that would double their money within six months.