Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that EDDY ALEXANDRE was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan to nine years in prison for engaging in commodities fraud. ALEXANDRE was the leader of a purported cryptocurrency and foreign exchange (“forex”) trading […]
Cryptocurrency
Judge Rules In Favor of Ripple, Declares XRP Not a Security…Sometimes
July 13, 2023 – In a landmark ruling, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple Labs did not violate federal securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges, however she also found that selling XRP directly to investors did violate the law. In a significant development, the Securities and […]
SEC Charges Celsius Network Limited and Founder Alex Mashinsky with Fraud and Unregistered Offer and Sale of Securities
On July 13, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Celsius Network Limited (Celsius) and its founder and former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, with violating registration and anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC alleged that Celsius failed to register the offers and sales of its crypto lending […]
Cryptocurrency – An Introduction
Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, making it difficult to counterfeit or double-spend. Cryptocurrencies use decentralized technology for secure peer-to-peer transactions that are recorded on a public ledger known as a blockchain. There are currently over 8,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation, with new ones being […]
State AGs Oppose SEC Rule Regulating Cryptocurrency
On May 8, 12 states led by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), opposing its recently proposed rule to give the commission the authority to regulate non-securities, including cryptocurrencies. While the current rules give the SEC the authority to regulate investment […]
SEC Wrong on Crypto
Crypto lawyer and XRP supporter John Deaton says that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving in the wrong regulatory direction at the expense of retail investors. Crypto lawyer and XRP supporter John Deaton says that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving in the wrong regulatory direction […]
Former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Charged by SEC for Role in Multiyear Scheme to Defraud Equity Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Nishad Singh, the former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), for his involvement in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, a crypto trading platform that Singh co-founded with Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. The scheme allegedly involved diverting […]
SEC Charges Terraform and CEO Do Kwon in Crypto Schemes
We discussed this case previously in connection with the firm’s CEO,s attempts to avoid service of a subpoena and his refusal to comply. The company not only refused to comply, but it sued the SEC for violation of various statutes. See, What Happens if I Ignore an SEC Subpoena. Now […]
Getting Paid to Promote Securities? You Need to Disclose That Fact!
Former NBA player Paul Pierce was paid more than $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens in order to promote them on Twitter. He failed to disclose the payment and ultimately agreed to settle an SEC case by disgorging the $244,000 payment, plus interest and $1,115,000 million in penalties. That is a […]
Kraken to Discontinue Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Staking-As-A-Service Program and Pay $30 Million to Settle SEC Charges
Feb. 9, 2023, the SEC has taken action against Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., commonly known as Kraken, for violating federal securities laws by failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto-asset staking-as-a-service program. Both Kraken entities have agreed to a settlement, which requires them to […]