© Reuters.
Investing.com – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a group of people and several companies with defrauding investors out of $45 million.
According to the SEC, CoinDeal was an investment system that promised tens of thousands of investors significant returns through the sale of unique blockchain technology.
From at least January 2019 to 2022, the alleged fraudsters disseminated false and misleading statements to investors regarding the value of CoinDeal, the supposed sale of the blockchain, and the use of investment proceeds.
“We allege that the defendants falsely claimed to have access to valuable blockchain technology and that the impending sale of this technology would generate over 500,000x returns for investors,” said Daniel Gregus, Regional Office Director of Chicago from the SEC.
“As alleged in our lawsuit, this was all really just an elaborate scheme where the defendants enriched themselves while defrauding tens of thousands of retail investors.”
According to the SEC complaint, the scammers told potential investors that a $100,000 investment in CoinDeal would yield $56.25 billion and a Bentley GT Convertible, while at the bottom of the scale, an investment of $500 would generate a return of $12.5 million.