- The SEC accuses Unicoin of falsely claiming to have raised $3 billion through “rights certificates” when it had only raised around $110 million.
- Unicoin marketed its tokens as backed by a high-value real estate portfolio, but the SEC says those assets were worth only a fraction of what was promised.
- CEO Alex Konanykhin and two other top executives face fraud charges; the company’s general counsel has settled without admitting guilt.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged cryptocurrency firm Unicoin and three top executives with allegedly raising over $100 million through deceptive marketing of its crypto asset offerings and company stock.
SEC Charges Unicoin
According to the SEC complaint, Unicoin falsely claimed that its tokens were registered with the agency and that it had raised $3 billion through the sale of so-called “rights certificates.”
In reality, the firm had raised just over $110 million.
The company promoted these tokens as “next-generation” secure investments, allegedly backed by real-world assets, including a portfolio of international real estate.
However, the SEC alleges that these assets were worth only a fraction of what was claimed.
Unicoin reportedly ran widespread advertising campaigns, including on national television, in airports, and in taxis, to attract investors.
Mark Cave, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated:
“We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by valuable real estate holdings.
“But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed,” Cave added.
Executives Charged
The executives named in the complaint are CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez.
The SEC alleges that Konanykhin personally sold approximately 38 million rights certificates.
Unicoin’s general counsel, Richard Devlin, was also charged with allegedly misleading internal documents.
Devlin has agreed to a permanent injunction and a $37,500 penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
Unicoin Says SEC “Persecuted” Company
In April, Konanykhin publicly criticized the SEC’s enforcement actions, calling the agency’s 2024 complaint “complete and utter bullsh*t.”
He called for the company to be removed from the SEC’s enforcement list, referencing the Trump administration’s softer regulatory stance, which has seen cases against firms like Coinbase and Ripple dropped.
In an interview with Decrypt, Konanykhin maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the charges:
“I fully intend to win this case in the courtroom. It’s grotesque that the most compliant crypto company in the U.S. remains the only one being persecuted by the SEC.”
