5 First-of-Their-Kind SEC Enforcement Actions Announced

Posted on October 20th, 2021 at 1:19 PM
5 First-of-Their-Kind SEC Enforcement Actions Announced

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law:

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal recently discussed notable first-of-their-kind enforcement actions that his division has pursued. Here are the five:  

  1. The SEC pursued the first enforcement action regarding securities utilizing decentralized finance or “DeFi” technology. The SEC charged two Florida advisors and their Cayman Islands company with misleading clients regarding the profitability of their business, which featured $30 million in sales of unregistered securities using smart contracts or DeFi technology. 
  2. The SEC agreed to a settlement with Poloniex LLC for more than $10 million after the firm was charged with operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange, which was a platform that facilitated the trading of digital asset securities. 
  3. The SEC charged BitConnect, an online crypto lending platform, along with its founder, Satish Kumhani, with conducting a fraudulent scheme. The complaint alleged the retail investors were defrauded out of $2 billion through an unregistered offering of investments into digital assets. 
  4. The SEC pursued its first enforcement action involving Regulation Crowdfunding. The SEC charged three individuals and one issuer with defrauding investors out of $2 million via two crowdfunding offerings of unregistered securities. Further, the SEC filed suit against the registered funding portal and its CEO, who submitted the offerings to the portal’s platform. 
  5. The SEC also filed its first enforcement action against an alternative data provider. App Annie and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt settled with the SEC for nearly $10 million. The SEC alleged that App Annie conducted deceptive practices and misrepresented how App Annie’s alternative data was collected. 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, sec, enforcements

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