The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused crypto platform Unicoin and three of its top executives of misleading investors and raising $100 million through false claims.
In a statement released on May 20, the SEC announced charges against Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former investment chief Alex Dominguez. The agency claims the three misrepresented the value and support of Unicoin’s digital assets, more especially, certificates guaranteeing rights to future Unicoin tokens and corporate stock.
Mark Cave, associate director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated that the executives “exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises” that Unicoin tokens would be backed by a global portfolio of valuable real estate.
In reality, the SEC says the actual value of those real estate assets was only a fraction of what was advertised. Most of the company’s certificate sales were described as “illusory,”—meaning they didn’t hold the value claimed.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in a federal court in Manhattan, accuses Unicoin and the three individuals of violating multiple securities laws. The Commission is looking for other penalties, permanent injunctions, and return of supposedly acquired gains.
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