Unicoin and 3 Top Executives Charged by the SEC With a $100 Million Fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Unicoin and three of its top executives, with a $100 million fraud amid allegations the New York-based crypto company offered fraudulent rights certificates of its native token and shares.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Unicoin and three of its top executives with a $100 million fraud amid allegations the New York-based crypto company offered fraudulent rights certificates of its native token and shares.

The three executives charged alongside the company include CEO and Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin; Silvina Moschini, former president, former board chairwoman, and current board member; and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez.

“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. “But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory. Unicoin’s most senior executives are alleged to have perpetuated the fraud, and today’s action seeks accountability for their contributions.”

According to a press release by the securities regulator, Unicoin allegedly claimed the rights certificates were “asset-backed” by billions of dollars of real estate and equity interests in pre-IPO companies, including saying it had sold more than $3 billion in rights certificates when it raised no more than $110 million.

The company also allegedly claimed that the rights certificates and Unicoin tokens were “SEC-registered” or “U.S. registered” when they were not.

These “false and misleading statements” were allegedly used to convince more than 5,000 investors to purchase the rights certificates.

Konanykhin allegedly offered and sold over 37.9 million of his rights certificates, with all three executives charged with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.