One Not-So-Beautiful ICO Scam

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Tomahawkcoin is the next coin to be hit with an extensive punishment from the SEC. Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission hit David T. Laurance with a lifetime barring from officer-and-director and penny stocks. He was also hit with a ,000 fine. Mr. Laurance consented to the SEC’s offerings without having to admit or deny he did anything wrong.

According to the Tomahawkcoin whitepaper, the goal was to bridge the cryptocurrency world with oil exploration. According to the SEC press release, Mr. Laurance and Tomahawkcoin falsely said they had drilling permits. Bad enough Mr. Lauraunce has had a history in fraudulent security offerings.

This is not the first time that a fraudulent ICO’s was started that ended up scamming investors. One of the more famous ICO scams was a coin called BitConnect. More of a Ponzi scheme, BitConnect, was served with cease and desist letters from American Securities regulators. Since they have shut down their exchange and the coin’s value has plummeted from a high of 1 to a now low of .67at the time this was written.

Currently, there is no word of an official investigation by the SEC into BitConnect. Interesting enough though in an article from CoinDesk, the SEC denied a FOIA records request from a Florida lawyer whose client has filed a lawsuit against BitConnect. The same lawyer was also denied a FOIA request for Tezos another said to be fraudulent ICO.

The SEC has been adamant in the past year about regulating ICO’s, otherwise known as Initial Coin Offerings. They have also been trying to educate those who are interested and make all aware of the fraudulent schemes that could exist.

(Photo of Investor.gov Homepage, Taken by Frank Stanley)

The Office of Investor Education and Advocacy division of the SEC has put out two helpful links, Investor.gov, a place to do a background search on anyone selling an ICO and their Investor Bulletin which keeps you informed about ICO’s. Also, the SEC has a good document on Ponzi schemes and cryptocurrencies.

Article Posted: 07/28/2021 02:07:57 PM