Yesterday, the SEC asked a federal court for injunctions against several crypto investment advisory firms who have displayed fake SEC certificates.
Naming crypto operators CryptoOrbit, Ftaexchange, Pinnacle, Quantum, RBH, and others, the SEC filed a total of 38 civil complaints over phony filings.
For example, the crypto-focused Quantum Financial Institute claimed it had registered investment advisor status that didn’t exist.
One of its incredible press releases pitched “a multi-dimensional intelligent investment system” and “courses” where students could learn about “bitcoin giveaways” and “the highest win-rate strategies, helping students understand the deep logic of the market.”
It even rendered a phony SEC certificate to dupe customers.
Commissioners are asking a federal court for injunctions to order civil penalties and to ban the defendants’ reporting exemption privileges for future advisory filings.
At the commission’s direction, FINRA has already removed non-compliant forms for these advisors from adviserinfo.sec.gov.
RBH Infinity Exchange Inc, Pinnacle Crypto Exchange Inc, THEVGPRO Ltd, Quantum Financial Institute Ltd, Ftaexchange Ltd, and other problematic crypto businesses are now defendants of US civil lawsuits.
SEC sues unregistered crypto advisors
Third-party, promotional write-ups of some of these crypto businesses falsely claimed that they carried valid SEC registration with numbers that precisely match yesterday’s SEC enforcement action.
Pinnacle, for example, marketed crypto swaps and its good standing with US regulators. THEVGPRO pitched a BTC backed “settlement security fund, enhancing global liquidity and payment efficiency” with registration numbers that the SEC never approved.
The SEC accuses these entities of making materially false statements on Form ADV, as well as failing to file disclosures.
Commissioners allege violations of Sections 204(a) and 207 of the Investment Advisers Act. They have not quantified investor losses in these initial complaints.
SEC staff attempted to contact many crypto advisors making false claims. Several phone numbers were disconnected or belonged to unrelated businesses. Postal mail was returned as undeliverable.
Read more: Who is Paul Atkins, Donald Trump’s pick for SEC chairman?
Disconnected phones, undeliverable addresses
Several unregistered investment advisors claimed to operate out of Colorado despite consistent use of Hong Kong IP addresses.
Apexium Securities Ltd, for example, allegedly used Hong Kong connections while listing a Colorado office where it had no presence.
Web3 University, another unregistered crypto operator, allegedly accessed FINRA’s filing system from the People’s Republic of China. It also used a disconnected phone number and listed an undeliverable Colorado Springs office.
CryptoOrbit, another defendant that commissioners sued yesterday, also claimed to possess SEC certificates that commissioners never issued.
An Ftaexchange crypto-focused press release touted digital asset trading and custody services with phony SEC registered investment adviser status as though it was in good standing.
A press release from RBH announced three health and intellectual-property-themed crypto tokens that are now worthless. It implored readers, “invest in the future — act now.” Hopefully they didn’t.
Pinnacle Crypto Exchange said it had completed SEC registration when it had not.
Absolutaris Base Limited was another defendant in yesterday’s SEC action.
The Better Business Bureau logged consumer complaints about this service, including worthless stock signals, a fake trading app, and advertisements about obviously unsustainable monthly returns of 20-60%.
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