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CFTC, DOJ, SEC file charges in crypto fraud scheme
On December 13, the SEC filed a complaint against the former CEO/co-founder (defendant) of a collapsed crypto exchange for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors. According to the SEC, from May 2019 to November 2022, the defendant raised over $1.8 billion from investors who bought an equity stake in his company in part because they believed his representations that the platform had “top-notch, sophisticated automated risk measures in place.” The complaint alleged, among other things, that the defendant orchestrated “a massive, years-long fraud” to conceal (i) the undisclosed diversion of customers’ funds to the defendant’s privately-held crypto hedge fund; (ii) the undisclosed special treatment afforded to the hedge fund on the company platform, including providing it with a virtually unlimited “line of credit” funded by the platform’s customers; and (iii) the undisclosed risk stemming from the company’s exposure to the hedge fund’s significant holdings of overvalued, illiquid assets, such as the platform-affiliated tokens. The complaint further alleged that the defendant used commingled funds at his hedge fund to make undisclosed venture investments, purchase lavish real estate purchases, and give large political donations. The SEC’s complaint charged the defendant with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC is seeking injunctions against future securities law violations; an injunction that prohibits the defendant from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any securities, except for his own personal account; disgorgement of his ill-gotten gains; a civil penalty; and an officer and director bar.
The defendant was also indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance charges.
The CFTC also filed a complaint against the former CEO/co-founder, in addition to the collapsed crypto exchange and the hedge fund for making material misrepresentations in connection with the sale of digital commodities in interstate commerce. Specifically, the CFTC alleged that the exchange’s executives, at the former CEO’s direction, created a number of exceptions to benefit his hedge fund, including adding features in the underlying code to permit the hedge fund to “maintain an essentially unlimited line of credit” on the trading platform through an “allow negative flag,” which allowed the hedge fund to withdraw billions of dollars in customer assets from the company. The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.
Later, on December 21, the SEC and CFTC filed charges (see here and here) against the former CEO of the hedge fund and the former chief technology officer of the collapsed crypto exchange for their roles in the scheme to defraud equity investors. The agencies stated that investigations into other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing.
SEC issues $20 million whistleblower award
On December 12, the SEC announced an award totaling nearly $20 million to a whistleblower whose new information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. According to the redacted order, the whistleblower provided new information, met with SEC staff multiple times, and cooperated in the investigation, which allowed SEC staff to more quickly and efficiently investigate complex issues.
SEC accuses defendants of engaging in $6 million fraudulent offering scheme
On December 7, the SEC filed a complaint against a venture capital firm and its co-founder and CEO (collectively, “defendants”) for allegedly making fraudulent offers and sales of purported shares of sought-after pre-IPO companies. According to the SEC, the defendants did not own the shares at the time of the solicitations and never acquired them. Instead of purchasing the securities, the SEC alleged that the CEO used the investor funds for personal use and created fraudulent documentation and statements to deceive investors. The SEC also alleged that the CEO’s other co-founder “performed important tasks with respect to the company including opening business bank accounts, completing paperwork necessary to form the business, and other administrative tasks,” and encountered, but failed, to act upon sufficient red flags regarding the company’s operations. The SEC’s complaint alleged violations of antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against the defendants.
SEC issues guidance for disclosing crypto-asset risks
Recently, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance accompanied by a illustrative letter containing sample comments that the Division may issue to companies following the recent “widespread disruption” in the crypto asset markets. The Division said it “believes that companies should evaluate their disclosures with a view towards providing investors with specific, tailored disclosure about market events and conditions, the company’s situation in relation to those events and conditions, and the potential impact on investors.” Companies with ongoing reporting obligations “should consider whether their existing disclosures should be updated.”
The sample comments, which are not exhaustive, are designed to help companies meet their disclosure obligations by “consider[ing] the need to address crypto asset market developments in their filings generally, including in their business descriptions, risk factors, and management’s discussion and analysis.” The Division urged companies to “take these sample comments into consideration” as they prepare disclosure documents that may not typically be subject to review by the Division before their use, such as automatically effective registration statements and prospectus supplements for takedowns from existing shelf registration statements.
The sample comments “focus on the need for clear disclosure about the material impacts of crypto asset market developments, which may include a company’s exposure to counterparties and other market participants; risks related to a company’s liquidity and ability to obtain financing; and risks related to legal proceedings, investigations, or regulatory impacts in the crypto asset markets.”
Danish financial institution fined $2 billion for anti-money-laundering compliance failures
On December 13, a Danish global financial institution pled guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and agreed to forfeit approximately $2 billion. According to court documents, the financial institution defrauded U.S. banks at which it held correspondent accounts by misrepresenting the state of its AML controls and transaction monitoring capabilities. According to the Department of Justice, between 2008 and 2016, the financial institution offered banking services through its Estonia branch, including a business line serving non-resident customers (known as “NRP”). The Estonia branch allowed NRP customers to transfer large amounts of money with little to no oversight, and branch employees conspired with NRP customers to hide the true nature of the transactions, including through the use of shell companies that obscured the actual owners of the funds. During this period, the Estonia branch processed $160 billion through U.S. banks on behalf of NRP customers.
The financial institution and its Estonia branch were required to provide information to U.S. banks in order to open and maintain correspondent accounts. This included information related to AML controls, transaction monitoring, and customers. By at least February 2014, the financial institution became aware of some NRP customers who were engaged in highly suspicious and potentially criminal transactions, including through U.S. banks. The DOJ noted that the financial institution was also aware that the Estonia branch’s AML program and procedures were not appropriate to meet the risks associated with NRP customers, but instead of providing truthful information, the financial institution lied about the state of the Estonia branch’s AML compliance program.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the bank has agreed to a criminal forfeiture of $2.059 billion. The bank will also enter into separate criminal or civil resolutions with domestic and foreign authorities. The DOJ will credit approximately $850 million in payments made by the financial institution to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities. The DOJ noted that the financial institution “received full credit for cooperation and remediation because it provided full cooperation with the investigation and demonstrated recognition and affirmative acceptance of responsibility for its criminal conduct.”
The same day, the SEC announced fraud charges against the financial institution in connection with a related, parallel proceeding. The financial institution agreed to pay roughly $413 million, including a $178.6 million civil monetary penalty, as well as $178.6 million in disgorgement and $55.8 million in prejudgment interest. The SEC said it will deem the disgorgement and prejudgment interest satisfied by forfeiture and confiscation ordered in parallel criminal cases with the DOJ, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Denmark’s Special Crime Unit.
DOJ, SEC reach $460 million FCPA settlement with global technology company
On December 2, the DOJ announced that it fined a Swiss-based global technology company $315 million to settle criminal charges related to allegations that, from 2015 to 2017, the company engaged in a bribery scheme with an electricity provider owned by the South African government. As part of the scheme, the company arranged to use a third party to pay a high-ranking South African government official at the electricity provider in exchange for awarding business to the global technology company. The settlement was the DOJ’s first coordinated resolution with authorities in South Africa. Authorities in South Africa separately brought corruption charges against the high-ranking South African government official. In addition to the financial penalty, the company entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement in connection with a criminal information charging the company with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions, conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s books and records provisions, and substantive violations of the FCPA. Two of the company’s subsidiaries located in Switzerland and South Africa each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.
The next day on December 3, the SEC announced that the company agreed to pay $75 million to settle the SEC’s claims. The company consented to the SEC’s cease-and-desist order which stated that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA and the Exchange Act. The SEC also ordered the company to pay more than $72 million in disgorgement. However, the Commission deemed the disgorgement order satisfied by the company’s reimbursement of its ill-gotten gains to the South African government as part of an earlier civil settlement based largely on the same underlying facts as the SEC’s action.
SEC issues $20 million whistleblower award
On November 28, the SEC announced an award totaling nearly $20 million to a whistleblower whose new information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. According to the redacted order, the whistleblower provided significant information and continuing assistance in the investigation that allowed SEC staff to more quickly and efficiently investigate complex issues.
SEC seeks to stop the registration of misleading crypto asset offerings
On November 18, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against a Wyoming-based organization (respondent) to determine whether a stop order should be issued to suspend the registration of the offer and sale of two crypto assets. The SEC alleged that a Form S-1 registration statement filed by the respondent in September 2021 failed to contain required information about its business, management, and financial condition, such as audited financial statements, and contained materially misleading statements and omissions, including inconsistent statements about whether the tokens are securities as required under the Securities Act of 1933. The SEC further alleged that the respondent failed to cooperate in the examination of respondent’s registration statement.
SEC charges company with ESG policy violations
On November 22, the SEC announced a settlement with a Delaware-based investment adviser (respondent) resolving allegations that the company violated federal laws concerning the investment process that the respondent’s equity group utilized while advising an environmental, social and governance (ESG) separately managed account strategy and two ESG mutual funds. According to the order, from April 2017 until February 2020, the respondent allegedly had several policy and procedure failures involving the ESG research its investment teams used to select and monitor securities. Specifically, from April 2017 to June 2018, the respondent allegedly failed to have any written policies and procedures for ESG research in one product, and when policies and procedures were established, it allegedly failed to abide by them consistently. The SEC found, among other things, that the respondent’s policies and procedures required its personnel to complete a questionnaire for every company it planned to include in each product’s investment portfolio prior to the selection. However, personnel completed many of the ESG questionnaires after securities were already selected for inclusion and relied on previous ESG research, which allegedly was often conducted in a different manner than what was required in its policies and procedures. The SEC alleged that the respondents violated provisions of Section 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, the respondent agreed to a censure and to pay a $4 million penalty. The order also provides that the respondent must cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 promulgated thereunder.
SEC releases enforcement results for fiscal year 2022
On November 15, the SEC announced that it filed 760 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022—a nine percent increase in total enforcement actions from fiscal year 2021. The fiscal year 2022 actions included: (i) 462 new, or “stand alone,” enforcement actions, a 6.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2021; (ii) 129 actions against issuers who were allegedly delinquent in making required filings with the SEC; and (iii) 169 “follow-on” administrative proceedings seeking to bar or suspend individuals from certain functions in the securities markets based on criminal convictions, civil injunctions, or other orders. The SEC also noted that the stand-alone enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022 “ran the gamut of conduct, from ‘first-of-their-kind’ actions to cases charging traditional securities law violations.” Among other things, the SEC described that money ordered in the actions, which is comprised of civil penalties, disgorgement, and pre-judgment interest, totaled $6.439 billion, the most on record in SEC history and an increase from $3.852 billion in fiscal year 2021. However, disgorgement was down 6 percent from the prior year, according to the SEC. The SEC also noted that fiscal year 2022 was its second highest year ever in whistleblower awards. According to SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement Gurbir S. Grewal, “the Enforcement Division is working with a sense of urgency to protect investors, hold wrongdoers accountable and deter future misconduct in our financial markets.”