The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday accused three employees of the defunct crypto company Bitcoiin2Gen of defrauding investors worth $ 11.4 million through the B2G token offer of 2018 which was offered on a large scale by actor Steven Seagal.
Bitcoiin2Gen and Start Options founder Kristijan Krstic and corporate promoter John DeMarr allegedly violated federal securities laws during the increase in 2018. DeMarr is also charged with fraud in a parallel lawsuit filed on Monday.
The trio reportedly promised to provide Bitcoiin2Gen’s investors with an Ethereum-based token, which the SEC claims never existed. They allegedly distributed misleading brochures among 460 investors to whom they had promised a “degradable” and “tradable” digital token – B2G – that would sell the bill for funds they never returned.
Bitcoiin2Gen also relied on the blessing of actor Steven Seagal, whom Krstic and DeMarr (under a pseudonym) trotted as “brand ambassadors” instead of earning $ 120,000 as promoters to pump B2G. Seagal, who was not named in Monday’s lawsuit, settled the relevant charges last February.
The indictment brings the regulatory authority’s ICO action into its second presidential administration. Regulators initially began pursuing allegedly fraudulent ICO projects during then-President Trump’s tenure, but appear ready to continue this trend under Biden’s team.
