Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S. charged ICOBox and its founder Nikolay Evdokimov for conducting an illegal $14 million securities offering of ICOBox’s digital tokens (ICOS) and for acting as unregistered brokers for other digital asset offerings.
According to the SEC’s complaint, ICOBox raised funds in 2017 to develop a platform for initial coin offerings by selling, in an unregistered offering, roughly $14.6 million of tokens to over 2,000 investors.
SEC Complaint
The complaint alleges that defendants claimed the tokens would increase in value upon trading and that ICOS token holders would be able to swap them at a discount for other tokens promoted on ICOBox.
According to the complaint, the ICOS tokens are virtually worthless. The complaint further alleges that ICOBox failed to register as a broker but acted as one by facilitating initial coin offerings that raised more than $650 million for dozens of clients.
“By ignoring the registration requirements of the federal securities laws, ICOBox and Evdokimov exposed investors to investments, which are now virtually worthless, without providing information that is critical to making informed investment decisions.”
– Michele Wein Layne, Regional Director of the Los Angeles Regional Office
The SEC’s complaint charges ICOBox and Evdokimov with violating the registration requirements of the federal securities laws and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil money penalties.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Brent W. Wilner and was supervised by Victoria A. Levin, Alka N. Patel, and Ms. Layne of the Los Angeles Regional Office. The litigation is being conducted by Amy J. Longo of the Los Angeles Regional Office.
In the last month, the SEC settled charges with Russian platform ICO Rating for failure to disclose it was touting, and also settled charges with the Dallas-based founders of a digital token called Bitqy for defrauding investors.
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