The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a civil enforcement action against cryptocurrency firm Unicoin Inc. and four of its executives, alleging their involvement in a $100 million massive offering fraud that misled over 5,000 investors worldwide.
In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC claims that Unicoin, headquartered in New York, promoted an unregistered and fraudulent offering by issuing “Unicoin rights certificates” under false pretenses. These certificates were marketed as providing rights to Unicoin tokens that were purportedly backed by billions in real estate and equity assets — claims the SEC says were knowingly false.
“Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets,” said Mark Cave, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “As alleged, these assets were worth only a fraction of what the company claimed, and most sales were illusory.”
The SEC accuses the company of misrepresenting its assets, falsely labeling the tokens as “SEC-compliant” and “U.S.-registered,” and overstating the value and ownership of international real estate assets in Argentina, Thailand, Antigua, and the Bahamas. The SEC also contends Unicoin misled investors about the company’s financial health and the scope of rights certificate sales.
Named in the complaint are:
