SEC Charges 18 Utah Defendants in $50M Crypto Fraud Scheme

The SEC announced Thursday it had obtained a impermanent plus frost and a restraining bid against an alleged fraudulent strategy based successful Utah to merchantability crypto to hundreds of U.S. investors that raised astir $50 million.

The SEC charged Draper, Utah-based DEBT Box, arsenic good arsenic the company’s 4 principals and 13 different defendants, with operating a strategy that began successful March 2021 to merchantability unregistered securities called “node licenses.” Defendants told investors that the licenses would excavation cryptocurrency that would summation successful value, erstwhile successful reality, defendants were creating the crypto instantaneously utilizing codification connected a blockchain, according to the SEC.

“We allege that DEBT Box and its principals lied to investors astir virtually each worldly facet of their unregistered offering of securities, including by falsely stating that they were engaged successful crypto plus mining,” said Tracy S. Combs, Director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional Office, successful a statement. “We filed this exigency enactment to support the victims of the defendants’ unlawful actions and halt further harm.”