SEC Hits Crypto Exchange Coinme With $4,000,000 in Fines for Alleged Securities Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is settling securities fraud allegations levied against the Seattle-based company Coinme Inc. for $4 million in penalties.
According to an SEC announcement, the US securities regulator accuses Coinme, its subsidiary Up Global and Neil Bergquist, the CEO of both entities, of violating securities law for selling the digital asset UpToken (UP).
The SEC also accuses Bergquist and Up Global of making false and misleading statements regarding the demand for UpToken and the amount raised in the initial coin offering (ICO).
The terms of the settlement include Up Global agreeing to pay a $3.52 million penalty for which Coinme is liable, Coinme agreeing to pay a separate $250,000 penalty and Bergquist agreeing to pay a penalty of $150,000.
The SEC charges relate to the ICO between October 16th, 2017 to December 15th, 2017.
According to the SEC, Coinme, Up Global and Bergquist falsely marketed that investors could see gains in accumulating UpToken as Coinme intended to buy the digital asset in the secondary market following the ICO. The SEC goes on to say that both Bergquist and Up Global had already taken measures to front-run potential UpToken investors.
“Bergquist and Up Global took steps before and throughout the ICO to obtain an UpToken supply that would substantially reduce Coinme’s need to purchase UpToken after the ICO, and also knowingly or recklessly publicly inflated amounts raised in the ICO.”
The announcement also reveals that Coinme, Up Global and Bergquist agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s accusations.
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