On August 27, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had reached a $30 million settlement with an Illinois-based operator of for-profit post-secondary schools and related subsidiaries resolving allegations that the company used lead generators who engaged in deceptive conduct to market its schools in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission…
On October 8, 2020, the Attorney General’s Cyber Digital Task Force announced the release of a publication entitled Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework (the “Enforcement Framework”). The Enforcement Framework describes the DOJ’s three areas of focus for illicit activity involving cryptocurrency: (1) financial transactions associated with the commission of crimes; (2)…
Never one to hold back, especially when it comes to crypto and blockchain matters, SEC Commissioner Peirce recently explained her views on the SEC’s settlement with Telegram and the agency’s approach to regulating the crypto and blockchain ecosphere generally. Simply put, Peirce disagreed with the Telegram settlement. In her words:…
In a recent decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Telegram Group Inc. and TON Issuer Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a motion for a preliminary injunction by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), thereby preventing the distribution to purchasers of…
2019 was a year of significant regulatory and legal developments in digital currency + blockchain. The SEC issued its most comprehensive guidance to date with its Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets, followed that up with three “no action” letters for projects that in its view complied with…
On July 26, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published a release announcing that it has begun to send notices to virtual currency traders that potentially failed to: (i) report income and pay the resulting tax from virtual currency transactions; or (ii) properly report their virtual currency transactions. In its…
On February 27, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the indictment of Randall Crater, founder and principal operator of My Big Coin Pay Inc. (“My Big Coin”) by a federal grand jury sitting for the District of Massachusetts for his alleged participation in a scheme to defraud investors by…
On February 20, 2019, the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an Order Instituting Cease-And-Desist Proceedings Pursuant To Section 8a Of The Securities Act Of 1933, Making Findings, And Imposing A Cease-And-Desist Order (“Order”) [1] against Gladius Network LLC (“Gladius”) for an initial coin offering…
This past week was a busy one for state securities regulators, the CFTC and the SEC as they continue their focus on rooting out fraud from the digital currency space and crypto- and blockchain-based ventures. Noteworthy developments included (1) the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announcing a “cryptosweep” –…
In the fall of 2017, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) each filed actions against Maksim Zaslavskiy for securities fraud in connection with two token offerings, through which he promised token purchasers profits from his companies’ investments in real estate and diamonds. …