Regulators Sue ICO Company That Falsely Claimed SEC Approval

After receiving news about a cryptocurrency firm allegedly claiming to have gotten an approval from its agency to launch its initial coin offering, The Securities and Exchange Commission reported this Thursday that it had secured an emergency court order against the firm.

The founder of the ICO, Reginald Buddy Ringgold, stated on October 11 that it got the green light by the SEC to launch its ICO. The firm, Ringgold and BlockVest stated, “were using the SEC sea without permission, a violation of federal law, and falsely claiming their crypto fund was ‘Licensed and regulated.’”

“Blockvest and Ringgold also allegedly misrepresented Blockvest’s connections to a well-known accounting firm, and continued their fraudulent conduct even after the National Futures Association (NFA) sent them a cease-and-desist letter to stop them from using the NFA’s seal and from making false claims about their status with that organization,” the SEC said in a statement.

In June, BlockVest’s website referred to “receiving Reg A+ approval from the SEC,” and in April had filed with the agency for an exempted sale of $100 million worth of “BLV tokens,” public records show.

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18, the SEC said, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

“We allege that this ICO is using both the SEC seal and a made-up crypto regulatory authority to trick investors into believing the ICO was approved by regulators,” Robert Cohen, who leads the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, was quoted as saying. “The SEC does not endorse investment products and investors should be highly skeptical of any claims suggesting otherwise.”