US SEC Charges Three Individuals Allegedly Tied to a $30 Million ICO Fraud

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday that three other individuals had been charged in a $30 million initial coin offering (ICO) fraud. According to the press release, defendants Ali Asif Hamid of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, Michael Gietz of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Cristine Page of Brooklyn, New York, were part of the scheme led by Boaz Manor – currently convicted – and his associate, Edith Pardo.

The complaint was filed before the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. Per the documents, the defendants had leadership roles within the ICO fraud, helping to hide Manor’s position within the criminal scheme. The investigation was led by Tracy Sivitz, Ann Marie Preissler, Simona Suh of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit, and Jordan Baker and Sandeep Satwalekar of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.

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Moreover, authorities accused them of knowing Manor’s criminal background: “To conceal Manor’s involvement and his history from investors, they used Manor’s chosen alias ‘Shaun MacDonald’ in ICO related-communications and helped create and distribute materially misleading ICO marketing materials, which omitted any reference either to Manor or to the fictional ‘MacDonald’ and instead touted a purported ‘executive team’ of individuals who, in reality, had no senior managerial authority over the business.”

One of the Defendants Agreed to a Settlement

That said, the SEC charged Hamid, Gietz, and Page with violating and aiding, and abetting violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and with violating securities registration requirements. Although she didn’t accept or denied SEC’s claims, Page agreed to arrange a settlement, still subject to the court’s approval “that includes permanent injunctions, disgorgement of the digital assets that she received in connection with her misconduct, and a civil penalty of $192,768,” the SEC commented.

Last week, Finance Magnates reported that the US financial regulator charged Edgar M. Radjabli of Boca Raton, Florida, and two entities he controlled for engaging in three separate securities frauds, one of them related to a token offering.

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