SEC Accuses Unicoin Executives of Investor Deception

According to ShibDaily, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Unicoin, Inc. and three of its senior executives, accusing them of misleading investors with false claims related to certificates allegedly linked to future crypto asset payouts. The SEC's press release states that Unicoin misled investors by promoting certificates that purportedly granted rights to receive Unicoin tokens, a type of crypto asset, and through an offering of the company’s common stock. Mark Cave, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, alleged that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that the tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets, including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings. Cave further claimed that the actual value of Unicoin’s real estate holdings was significantly overstated, with most of the rights certificate sales being essentially fabricated. The SEC identified the firm's top executives—Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin; Silvina Moschini, former president, former board chairwoman, and current board member; and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez—as central figures in orchestrating the alleged fraud. The commission's action seeks to hold them accountable for their roles. The SEC alleged that Unicoin aggressively marketed its rights certificates through high-visibility campaigns, including ads in major airports, New York City taxis, television broadcasts, and social media platforms. Unicoin and its executives are accused of convincing over 5,000 investors to purchase rights certificates by making false claims that these were secure, stable, and profitable “next-generation” crypto assets. The company claimed that the tokens linked to the rights certificates were backed by billions of dollars in real estate and equity stakes in pre-IPO companies, but the actual assets were worth only a fraction of that amount. Despite selling over $3 billion in rights certificates, Unicoin raised less than $110 million. Furthermore, the company misrepresented the rights certificates and tokens as being registered with the SEC or in the U.S., which was not the case. The SEC's complaint also alleges that Unicoin and Konanykhin violated federal securities laws by offering and selling rights certificates without proper registration. The Unicoin board chairman is accused of personally selling more than 37.9 million rights certificates, allegedly to offer discounted pricing and reach investors excluded from the main offering, in an effort to maintain the company’s claimed exemption from registration.