SEC Drops the Hammer on Unicoin: $100M Crypto Scam Exposed!

Unicoin and Top Execs Slammed with Lawsuit Over Misleading Token Sales

Buckle up, crypto fans, because the SEC just unleashed a legal storm on Unicoin Inc. and its big shots, accusing them of pulling off a jaw-dropping $100 million scam through shady and unregistered securities offerings. You read that right—$100 million!

In a bombshell complaint dropped on May 20 in the Southern District of New York, the SEC is going after Unicoin's CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Maria Silvina Moschini, and ex-chief investment officer Alex Dominguez. These guys are accused of spinning lies while hyping up "rights certificates" linked to a future token called Unicoin. Talk about a crypto con!

Unicoin was out there pushing these certificates as if they were backed by some mega real estate and pre-IPO equity portfolio. But hold on to your hats—the SEC says the real backing was worth peanuts compared to what they boasted. It's like promising the moon and delivering a rock!

Check this out: Unicoin's glossy brochures flaunted real estate deals in Argentina, Thailand, and the Caribbean. But guess what? Most of these deals never even happened, and their total value? A measly $300 million tops. What a letdown!

And it gets worse. Unicoin claimed to have raked in over $3 billion from investors. But according to the SEC, the actual haul was just around $110 million from over 5,000 investors worldwide. That's a huge gap!

But wait, there's more! Unicoin had the audacity to label their offerings as SEC-compliant or "U.S. registered." Spoiler alert: these certificates were never officially registered and didn't meet any exemption requirements under federal securities law. Total fraud!

Unicoin didn't stop there. They also allegedly handed out tokens via airdrops without checking if investors were accredited. And get this—CEO Konanykhin is accused of selling nearly 38 million certificates to investors who were previously off-limits, just to keep up the company's legal front. Sneaky!

Oh, and don't forget Unicoin's general counsel, Richard Devlin, who's also in hot water. He settled with the SEC without admitting any wrongdoing, but he's coughing up a $37,500 fine and accepting a permanent injunction. Tough break!

The SEC isn't messing around. They're after civil penalties, disgorgement of funds, and executive bans against the rest of the defendants. Meanwhile, Konanykhin is firing back, denying the charges and promising a courtroom showdown. He claims the SEC's actions wrecked the company and killed crucial fundraising chances. Drama!

Despite the crypto-friendly vibes during the Trump era, the SEC isn't holding back when it comes to cases they see as clear-cut fraud. Stay tuned, folks—this is just the beginning!