The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the founder of Bitcoin mining company VBit with embezzling $48.5 million and committing fraud.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Danh C. Vo, founder and CEO of Bitcoin mining company VBit Technologies Corp., accusing him of misappropriating approximately $48.5 million in a fraudulent investment project. SEC filings show that Vo and VBit raised over $95.6 million from approximately 6,400 investors, falsely describing the Bitcoin mining business model and the use of funds in their promotional materials. The SEC states that Vo promoted so-called "custody agreements" to investors, claiming they offered ordinary investors a solution for passively earning mining rewards without managing equipment, but in reality, the number of custody agreements sold far exceeded the scale of the company's actual mining operations. The regulator believes that Vo knowingly or disregarded the facts and continued to make misleading statements to investors. Furthermore, the SEC disclosed that Vo transferred approximately $5 million to his family and former spouse and left the United States in November 2021. The SEC filed charges of unregistered securities offering and fraud against him. VBit was acquired in 2022, and its mining operations have ceased. (The Block)