In brief
- The SEC has charged Unicoin and top executives with allegedly misleading over 5,000 investors in a $100 million crypto offering.
- Regulators said Unicoin made false statements about asset backing, registration, and the total amount raised.
- The SEC alleges Unicoin’s marketing campaign used widespread advertising to promote the offering as a secure investment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged New York-based Unicoin and three of its top executives with allegedly misleading investors and raising more than $100 million through false claims about crypto asset offerings and company stock.
In a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, the SEC accused Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez of promoting so-called “rights certificates” tied to Unicoin tokens through allegedly false or misleading statements.
The complaint also targets the company’s general counsel, Richard Devlin, for misleading statements in private placement memoranda. Without admitting wrongdoing, Devlin has agreed to pay a $37,500 penalty and accept a permanent injunction.
“We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings,” Mark Cave, associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. “But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed.”
The case comes as the SEC, under the Trump administration, has retreated from several high-profile crypto enforcement actions, including recent cases against Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and Consensys.
Recent actions against Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and Consensys have been dropped amid a broader shift away from the more aggressive regulatory stance taken by the previous administration.
According to the SEC, Unicoin falsely claimed its tokens were registered with the agency and that it had raised $3 billion in rights certificate sales, when it raised just over $110 million.
The agency further alleges Konanykhin personally sold nearly 38 million certificates to investors otherwise barred from participating.
Unicoin allegedly placed ads in airports, taxis, and on television to attract investors, presenting the offerings as “next generation” secure investments.
Speaking to Decrypt in April, Konanykhin vowed to contest the charges in court. “I fully intend to win this case in the courtroom,” he said. “It’s grotesque that the most compliant crypto company in the U.S. remains the only one being persecuted by the SEC.”
He argues the lawsuit doesn’t represent the views of the current SEC leadership.
“This is being driven by rogue officials left over from the Gensler administration who are trying to cover themselves by bullying us into a false admission of guilt,” Konanykhin said at the time.
The SEC is seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil penalties against all named defendants, as well as officer-and-director bans for the three senior executives.
Konanykhin has been contacted for comment.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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