Court Halts SEC Suit against a $30 Million Crypto Scam

A New Jersey federal judge recently cited a parallel criminal case while halting an SEC case against a $30 million crypto scam.

Civil action to remain pending

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had filed a case against a woman from Essex County who duped investors out of $30 million using a fraudulent crypto scheme. The US government had requested the court to intervene and halt the civil action until a related criminal case is pending. The case is lodged against the promoters of Blockchain Terminal (BCT) for their ICO launch.

The criminal case names two Canadian residents- Edith Pardo (68) and Boaz Manor (46). Both have been charged with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud.

What is the SEC case about?

The SEC has also charged both with fraud for raising more than $30 million via a fraud ICO. Hundreds of investors participated in the ICO and lost money while they were promised cryptocurrency in return. Two firms were involved in the scam- BCT Inc. and CG Blockchain Inc.

Boaz Manor is a Canadian hedge fund fraudster who has already served jail time. Manor was involved in the collapse of a hedge fund based in Toronto that he co-founded. In 2012, he was also slapped with a lifetime ban on operating in the securities industry. He was convicted in the $106 million scam which led him to serve four years in prison.

Manor adopted a fake name- Shaun MacDonald and create an elaborate scheme that would fool his employees and investors. He also installed a figurehead CEO in the company to conceal his role in raising money for the CG Blockchain scheme. He is being called the mastermind behind the fraudulent scheme. As he had agreed to not participating in any securities offerings, he used aliases to conceal his identity and his leadership position at the company. He also darkened his hair and grew a beard to hide his identity as well as his criminal past.