The US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has successfully obtained a court order against TBIS (Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services), a blockchain-based startup company that has just held an ICO and has managed to raise $21 million from various investors, in and out of the US. According to the SEC, this ICO was based on false claims that TBIS is cooperating with many well-known companies and organizations, which served to deceive investors and trick them into investing into TBIS’s new coin.
Titanium lies about having a connection to large firms
There are reasons why regulatory bodies struggle with ICOs and that includes the fraudulent attempts of some to scam people out of their money. The latest example of this has occurred just days ago, and as a consequence, the US SEC was forced to get a court order against the company called Titanium and its CEO, Michael Alan Stollery, also known as Michael Stollaire.
According to the SEC, Stollery gave false information to the company’s investors and claimed that the firm is associated with many major companies in an attempt to attract investors into giving their money in exchange for the company’s tokens. Stollery falsely claimed to be connected to several big names, including PayPal, Federal Reserve, Verizon, Boeing, and Disney.
He is alleged to have fabricated testimonials from clients and added logos of all companies with whom he claimed association. Titanium’s ICO was then promoted via social media platforms, as well as videos on YouTube. During these promotions, he professed that to invest in Titanium is as safe as investing in companies like Google or Intel.
Additional discoveries by SEC
Robert Cohen, SEC’s head of the Cyber Unit, stated that the ICO was mostly based on the general crypto hype on social media and that its goal was to deceive people. Additionally, he stated that this is not the first time something like this has happened and is likely that it will not be the last. Because of that, he advised all potential investors to take a close look at the project they plan to invest in before they give up their money.
The regulator’s main goal right now is to find a way to prevent Stollery from participating in the digital assets issuance in the future and to secure a refund for investors.
