- The reason was ICO 2017
- After the HYDRO case, this is the second victim of the SEC in recent days
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Coinme, Up Global, and businessman Neil Bergquist, totaling almost $4 million. The defendants accepted the fine without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Coinme and Up Global will pay a total of $3.77 million, while Bergquist will give back $150,000. He was also banned from holding public company executive positions for the next 3 years.
This is a punishment for the initial coin sale (ICO) of UpToken, held back in 2017. In a statement, the SEC writes that Coinme and Up Global misled investors.
Coinme is the company that owns the ATM network. Initially, the coin was conceived as a reward for customers of these ATMs. 1% of each transaction was to be used to purchase UpToken and credited to customers as cashback.
In court documents, the SEC said that Bergquist and Up Global were taking steps that would reduce Coinme’s need to buy UpTokens after the ICO. The commission also accused the parties of deliberately and “unconsciously or recklessly” publicly inflating the amounts raised in the ICO.
The SEC announcement comes just days after the committee won a major victory in another case. We are talking about the company HYDRO and its director Michael Caine. The court accused the project of manipulating the market and defrauding investors. Now Hydrogen Technology and Kane must pay a $2.5 million fine.
