In a few days ago press release by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, the agency made it known that it has obtained a court order which makes it possible to arrest and prosecute whoever is in charge of the blockchain based company, Blockvest.

Blockvest

Blockvest is a blockchain based company which was founded and managed by Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III. Apart from arresting the founder, the SEC also halted all actions that have to do with its ongoing pre-ICO sales.

Buddy was accused of falsely calming that the SEC has approved its operations and all its activities are monitored by the SEC. As a result of this, he is found guilty of violating a federal law.

Based on the report, it was clear that Buddy was not working alone. He sure does have strong backing from an experienced designer. The reason behind this conclusion was that he formed a fake commission with designs and features quite Identical to that if the SEC. The fake commission referred to as “Blockchain Exchange Commission,” as the same address and seal as SEC headquarters.

A statement coming from the SEC in relation to this states that:

“Blockvest and Ringgold also allegedly misrepresented Blockvest’s connections to a well-known accounting firm, and continued their fraudulent conduct even after the National Futures Association (NFA)sent them a cease-and-desist letter to stop them from using the NFA’s seal and from making false claims about their status with that organization,”

A date has been set for the hearing of this case, 18th October in the Southern District of California.

The SEC Does Not Support ICOs

This is not the first time a fraudulent cryptocurrency operation will be claiming it has approval from a top ranking agency like the SEC.

As a result of this, the SEC has issued statements through its chair, Jay Clayton stating that:

“A number of concerns have been raised regarding the cryptocurrency and ICO markets, including that, as they are currently operating, there is substantially less investor protection than in our traditional securities markets, with correspondingly greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation,”