A citizen from Latvia was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with fraudsters in crypto-offers. The fraudster “used fake names, fictitious entities, and fraudulent profiles to perpetrate his schemes, and misappropriated nearly all of the investor funds that were raised.”
Two false crypto-schemas
The SEC announced Thursday that it has “charged a Latvian citizen with defrauding hundreds of retail investors out of at least $7 million through two separate fraudulent digital asset securities offerings.”
Securities watchdog, recognizing that Ivars Auzins had deceived U.S. or foreign investors, explained:
Auzins used fictitious names and profiles, as well as fraudulent identities to carry out his schemes. He also misappropriated almost all the funds raised for investors.
From January 2018 to March 2018, his first scheme was in place. “Auzins fraudulently offered and sold unregistered digital tokens as part of an ICO [initial coin offering] of Denaro, a purported multi-currency debit card platform,” the SEC detailed.
The complaint alleges that “all of the claimed products or services being offered were fictitious, including the relationship with the credit card issuer,” noting that “Auzins misappropriated all of the ICO’s proceeds.”
From April to July 2019, his second scheme was in place. “Auzins fraudulently offered the unregistered securities of Innovamine, which purportedly offered a cloud mining program,” the SEC described, adding that he “misappropriated nearly all of the funds raised in the offering.”
Detail:
We allege that Auzins engaged in a scheme to defraud investors, claiming digital assets were profitable.
The Latvian citizen is charged with “violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws.” The SEC “seeks permanent injunctions, including conduct-based injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar against him.”
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