The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged New York-based Unicoin Inc. and its executives with orchestrating a $100 million fraud.
The regulator charged the company and executives Alex Konanykhin, Silvina Moschini and Alex Dominguez for false and misleading statements related to an offering of certificates promising rights to receive crypto-assets and stock, according to a Tuesday statement.
“We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings,” said Mark Cave, associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in the statement.
Those real estate assets were in reality worth “a mere fraction” of what the company claimed, Cave added. Under the administration of pro-crypto President Donald Trump, the SEC has dropped more than 10 high-profile crypto-enforcement cases, including lawsuits against exchanges Coinbase Global Inc. and Binance Holdings Ltd.
Newly sworn-in SEC Chair Paul Atkins says a top priority will be to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a “rational, coherent and principled approach.” But the watchdog hasn’t entirely curtailed crypto actions. In April, it charged crypto and foreign exchange outfit Praetorian Group International Corp. with orchestrating a $198 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme.
In the Tuesday statement, the SEC alleged that Unicoin marketed certificates to the public through promotional efforts that included advertisements in major airports and on thousands of New York City taxis. The group and its executives are alleged to have convinced more than 5,000 investors to purchase the certificates. Unicoin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
