SEC charges eight for $45 million CoinDeal blockchain fraud scheme
Quick Take
- The U.S. SEC charged eight individuals and businesses with alleged crimes related to a blockchain tech firm called CoinDeal.
- Individuals allegedly promised the firm would be sold for trillions, despite no deal ever made or funds given back to investors.
- One defendant named Neil Chandran had been detained since Sept. 14, 2022 for wire fraud and criminally derived monetary transaction charges.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged eight individuals and businesses for the alleged sale of unregistered securities via the blockchain tech firm CoinDeal.
The accused are Neil Chandran, Garry Davidson, Michael Glaspie, Amy Mossel, Linda Knott, AEO Publishing Inc, Banner Co-Op, Inc and BannersGo, LLC, according to an SEC release.
Chandran, Davidson, Glaspie, Knott and Mossel allegedly claimed that CoinDeal would be sold for trillions of dollars, despite no acquisition ever being made or funds allocated to investors. Chandran also allegedly used millions of dollars in investor funds for buying a boat, real estate, cars, and other personal uses.
The SEC filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
"We allege the defendants falsely claimed access to valuable blockchain technology and that the imminent sale of the technology would generate investment returns of more than 500,000 times for investors,” Daniel Gregus, director of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office, said in a release.
Neil Chandran had been detained in the U.S. for crimes related to wire fraud and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property since Sept. 14, 2022.
The SEC alleged that Chandran defrauded more than 10,000 victims through his investment fraud schemes involving CoinDeal and other firms.
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