The US SEC Wins Lawsuit Against Crypto Influencer Ian Balina for Unregistered Securities Sales
PANews reported on May 24 that a federal judge in Texas ruled that cryptocurrency YouTube influencer Ian Balina was allegedly selling unregistered securities when he purchased Sparkster (SPRK) tokens and offered them to U.S. investors as part of an investment pool. Judge David Alan Ezra stated in the ruling that Balina's actions fall under U.S. securities law, and the SPRK tokens meet the definition of securities. The court determined that SPRK meets the Howey test criteria, meaning that investors profit through a common enterprise and rely on the efforts of others. Judge Ezra denied Balina's motion for summary judgment, stating that he "deliberately targeted U.S. investors."
The SEC alleged in the lawsuit that Balina purchased $5 million worth of SPRK tokens between May and July 2018 and promoted them on social media, creating a Telegram group to form an investment pool, but did not disclose to investors that Sparkster gave him a 30% bonus on token purchases. Balina claimed this was a standard discount in a private presale. Sparkster describes itself as a "low-code" blockchain application development platform and conducted its initial coin offering (ICO) of SPRK tokens between April and July 2018. In September 2022, Sparkster reached a settlement with the SEC to destroy the remaining tokens and pay $30 million in ill-gotten gains, $4.6 million in interest, and a $500,000 civil penalty, without admitting or denying the allegations.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
FBI warns Maryland residents of rising $54.5M crypto scam losses
Qubetics Presale Launching Soon: Harness Stability and a Transparent Fee Structure for a Smarter Digital Future
XRP Price Reaches $9,868 in Price Glitch
Banana Gun Pledges $3 Million Refund for Hacked Users, Implements New Security Protocols