Justia Badge
Super Lawyers badge
Avvo Rating badge
AV Preeminent badge

84-security-of-cryptocurrency
The over 80 subpoenas recently issued to companies in the cryptocurrency sector have provided a logical corollary to the agency’s many warnings about ICOs potential violations of security laws.

The time for warnings is over. Now, the SEC’s intentions have evolved into enforcement actions, forever changing the scenario for new cryptocurrency initiatives.

In late 2017, Bitcoin’s spectacular rise in value lured both would-be cryptocurrency developers and new investors with the promise of returns higher than 2,000 percent. Although the digital currency’s value eventually stabilized, these price fluctuations and the surge in ICO initiatives raised alarm among regulators, who pointed to issues of valuation, liquidity, and arbitrage.

83-jay-z
Hip-hop star Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z, has just received a subpoena to appear in court after he failed to testify in connection with the SEC’s probe into Iconix Brand Group’s accounting practices.

Iconix acquired intangible assets from Jay-Z’s clothing brand Rocawear in 2007, which boasted $700 million in annual sales at the time. The agreement was that Carter and Iconix would work on the joint development of new brand opportunities following the sale. But Iconix went on to announce two write-downs of Rocawear, one in 2016, of $169 million, and another one of $34 million earlier this year.

Iconix, which describes itself as, “the world’s premier brand management company and owner of a diversified portfolio of strong global consumer brands across fashion, sports, entertainment, and home,” markets retail brands such as Joe Boxer, Candie’s, Bongo, Pony, Umbro, and Material Girl.

crypto-market
Recently, British comedian John Oliver dedicated his weekly show to cryptocurrency. Drawing from a seemingly endless supply of ICO Ponzi schemes, pump-and-dumps, and grandiose cryptocurrency speakers, the program emphasized the hitherto lax regulations that have enabled fraudulent schemes to flourish.

Oliver coined the hashtag #CraefulGang, a play on the popular caption #HODLGang, well known to cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Where a drunken BitcoinTalk poster had advised investors to “HODL” (a typo for hold), Oliver warned them to be “Craeful” and do their own research before giving their savings to obscure ICO companies making wild claims.

Before the SEC zeroed in on the cryptocurrency investment space, announcing that it viewed ICOs as securities and issuing subpoenas left and right, the market was more akin to the Wild West than to Wall Street.

81-money-laundry
FINRA has fined Aegis Capital Corp. $550,000 for failing to implement required anti-money laundering (AML) and supervisory programs designed to prevent fraudulent activity.

The violations specifically affected low-priced securities transactions involving DVP (delivery versus payment) accounts. According to the outcome of FINRA’s investigation, the supervisory system Aegis used “was not reasonably designed to satisfy its obligation to monitor and investigate trading.”

There are certain aspects of DVP accounts that make them vulnerable to money laundering schemes if they are not appropriately supervised.

80-policies-and-rules
FINRA recently announced monetary sanctions against Wedbush Securities in the amount of. $1.5 million for SEC rule violations and associated compliance failures.

According to FINRA, Wedbush violated the SEC Customer Protection Rule, which requires broker-dealers to maintain a certain degree of physical possession and control over customer securities.

The object of the rule is to facilitate recovery of customer assets if the broker-dealer becomes insolvent. Firms are also required to keep these securities in what is called a control location, free of any liens.

79-centra-card
Celebrity endorsements add an element of trust for investors who are just entering the ICO market. But the strategy did not turn out well for Centra Tech, as a third arrest has just been made in connection with the SEC’s allegations that the company defrauded investors out of over $25 million.

Earlier this year, I reported on the charges brought against Sohrab Sharma and Robert Farkas, and the public exposure of the alleged fraud.

Sharma, Farkas, and now Raymond Trapani have been charged with falsely advertising their ICO as having links with Visa, and Mastercard, which they claimed were backing their cryptocurrency-funded debit card, “Centra Card.”

78-security-brokers
A new proposed SEC regulation vows to “enhance the quality and transparency of investors’ relationships with investment advisers and broker-dealers.”

If “Regulation Best Interest” is finally implemented, broker-dealers will be required to “act in the best interest” of their retail customers whenever they recommend any securities transactions or investments.

Following numerous penalties in cases where broker-dealers recommended investments to their retail customers for the sake of personal gain, the proposed regulation is designed to deter financial advisers from this type of behavior, in the SEC’s words, “to make it clear that a broker-dealer may not put its financial interests ahead of the interests of a retail customer in making recommendations.”

77-sec-cryptocurrency
The SEC is effectively expanding its jurisdiction into the cryptocurrency and ICO market. Dozens of companies, possibly hundreds, are receiving SEC subpoenas, which I advise them to take very seriously.

High profile companies, including giants like TechCrunch’s cryptofund, are currently dealing with these subpoenas. One of the problems is that nobody knows exactly what is going on, and the market is eager for the SEC to clarify the rules.

Do securities laws apply to cryptocurrency? The SEC says they do, but it is yet to issue a detailed guide for compliance. That is why securities lawyers like myself are playing an increasingly important role in the digital currency space right now.

76-stocks-and-shares-against-bitcoin
The SEC has repeatedly warned cryptocurrency investors about the market’s vulnerability to large-scale fraud. Likewise, the agency has made it clear that cryptocurrency offerings that function as securities will be treated as such, and thus subjected to scrutiny.

Since SEC officials began making emphatic statements about its jurisdiction over the cryptocurrency space, many companies have been sued in connection with their ICO dealings.

According to estimates, the SEC is looking into the affairs of at least 80 crypticompanies, in search of a variety of violations.

75-fintech
The SEC has filed a complaint accusing Mozido’s founder, Michael Liberty, and four of his associates of defrauding investors out of over $48 million. The mobile payments startup allegedly used funds from investor accounts to sustain its managers’ luxurious lifestyles.

The company’s CEO and his co-defendants allegedly advertised lucrative investments in shell companies possessing interests in Austin-based Mozido, a venture-backed company with an estimated value of at least $1 billion. This type of company is commonly known as a “unicorn.” According to the SEC, investors were lured by the prospect of making seminal investments in a promising financial technology startup.

The SEC alleges that instead of using investments to grow Mozido, the defendants used them to settle another SEC lawsuit against Liberty, to purchase luxury real estate and vehicles, produce a motion picture, and hire private jets.

Contact Information