WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it has charged five individuals for promoting a global unregistered digital asset securities offering that raised over $2 billion from retail investors.
The agency alleged that from January 2017 to January 2018 BitConnect used a network of promoters to sell the securities without registering them, as required by the federal securities laws. The promoters advertised to prospective investors through YouTube videos.
Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Leslie Adler