ICOBox Fined $16 Million By US Court After SEC Securities Violations Case

On the 5th of March, 20202, the Central District Court of California’s Judge Dale S. Fischer has granted the motion brought by the SEC for default judgment against ICOBox and its CEO, Nikolay Evdomikov. ICOBox stands as an ICO-as-a-service platform, and Evdokimov stands as the company’s founder.

Illegal Like Any Other

Charges against ICOBox were first laid to bare against it by the SEC back in September of 2019. The SEC had accused the company of hosting sales of various unregistered securities. Further accusations from the SEC claims that the company had been acting as an unlicensed securities broker through more than 30 individual token sales.

ICOBox managed to gain an impressive $14.6 million in invested funds from over 2,000 investors, who themselves weren’t accredited either. This occurred in its ICO that occurred back in 2019. It was claimed by Evdokimov himself during the time of this sale, that these “ICO” tokens would rise in value as the company gains more clients for its platform.

Opting To Stay Away

ICOBox will be hit with an impressive $16 million fine as part of the judgment, with Evdokimov himself being forced to pay $192,000 out of his own pocket as a form of personal penalty.

An important thing to know is that default judgments are usually only granted in favor of the plaintiff, should a defendant not respond to the summons, or otherwise fail to appear in front of the appropriate court. The motion for default judgment was filed by the SEC on the 9th of January, 2020, after numerous attempts were made to serve Evdokimov personally.

The Chase Begins

As it stands now, Evdokimov has yet to return emails, and reportedly moved out of his residence in the middle of the night, having refrained from paying rent for two months prior. The SEC had served his wife in late September of last year.

The SEC had also tried to serve notice to the resident agent for ICOBox, situated in the Cayman Islands. However, the regulator was subsequently informed that they had resigned, and have yet to be replaced with another worker.

It seems that for now, at least, Evdokimov has evaded the law. Whether the man can survive as a wanted criminal is a whole other matter entirely. More than likely, the SEC will find Evdokimov within the next two or three years, without a penny to his name from various failed schemes. However, this is merely speculation.