Bitcoin Forum

I'm an ICO advisor and recently I had a case where where lawyers of https://icobox.io jeopardize my clients legal safety by completely ignoring the laws of client's local country.

My client has Namibian company and the The Bank of Namibia announced that spending cryptocurrency in Namibia is illegal:
https://www.ethnews.com/bank-of-namibia-use-of-cryptocurrencies-prohibited-within-country

And guess what type of legal advice lawyers from ICObox gave to my client?

They told him to:
- Comply with KYC and AML.
- Not accept investors from USA, China and South Korea.

So the basic crap everyone in ICO industry knows already.

But they told him nothing about crypto situation in Namibia, which could be a risk for my client.

And they charge 16 BTC (= over $150k at todays are) +1,5% of raised funds for this crappy service https://icobox.io/#services
ICObox, really? For that money you can hire a very good lawyer to work for you for a year!
You not only rob your clients, but also provide false legal advise as well?

Luckily I advised them to:
- Establish a company in new jurisdiction that is more crypto friendly.
- Consult with Namibian lawyer and with the lawyer of the jurisdiction where they plan to open new company, to make sure there is no legal risk for them.

So my client was saved from possible legal tragedy.

So remember: Always consult with the lawyers from your own country! Not with some crappy ICO lawyers who know only USA laws.

P.S. I also noticed that while ICObox claim to have over 80 employees and work on 3 continents you cannot find any information about their physical or legal address. I wonder why they need to hide this information.

This ICObox company looks like a scam.Are you sure that these guys are licensed layers?
I can`t believe that professional layers could give such a stupid advice and charge such a high fee.
I guess that this is a brand new scam method.Those scammers just pretend to be layers and they cheat crypto start up owners and ICO devs.
OP,maybe you could move this thread to the "Services discussion" forum board.More people should be aware about this scam.

This is just only new into my ears and trying to search up further information which i did eventually didnt see any info towards them which is already a big flag for me.The worst thing is that they are charging up too much because if you are a legit ICO lawyer you wont able to offer such rate which is too OP.Main target for this is on those devs of such project which are tending to make or launch their ICO. 16 btc is insane for a charge. Must keep away with this thing.

Good to know that you eventually rectify the wrong recommendations made by ICOBox to this guys which I assumed is running his own ICO program and is based in a country where the government is not recognizing cryptocurrency. There are many organizations doing their business in the cryptocurrency market who are not actually experts on what they are doing or they pretend to have broad scope and knowledge though the opposite is true. We have to be careful and weigh on everything passed unto us even if we are paying them for their job much more if it entails some legally complicated in nature. 

My opinion is that the ICO, the company will continuously meet with challenges on the legislative level. This is because the legislation of most countries does not have certain rules regarding the use of ICOS and cryptocurrencies. Therefore, there is a change of rules during the game. Lawyers aren't ready for that. It is impossible to know what is not.

Based on their Linkedin profiles they are real lawyers, but they are either Russian or USA lawyers. Which means they know the laws of Russia or USA only.

They could be lawyers that exist and giving legal advise only through the media and the internet. They only understand the laws of their jurisdictions and won't want to turn down other jobs that come their way. They don't have first hand knowledge of the legal requirements for establishing a company in most countries because jurisdictional requirements are quite different from each other with different agencies involved in the registration procedures.

Yes, probably like that.

That doesn't look like a legal advice at all, KYC and AML as a requirement sound right for most ICO in different countries but saying that you should not established an ICO on ICO strict countries like U.S.A and South Korea looks like they just want the personal information more rather then being full legal to the situation.
This is a better move rather than having a consultation online, Namibian Lawyers will know more about their legality rather than someone looking for legal assistance online, which ICObox failed to deliver information regarding their country.

I can't believe your client could pay that amount of money in BTC without even knowing the basic rule in his own country showed that he is not unserious about what he intends to do. A country that have taken a position on bitcoin and its related activities should not be to hard to see on the internet. Google would have helped out without stress but he chose not to go thorough that. Not only did he stopped there but didn't take time to verify the people he is dealing with and they took advantage of his laziness to an extreme level. But since this is scam accusation, shouldn't it be in the reputation section of the forum.

Little be worried when i do read up if the client was able to proceed on such payment,imagine 16btc for a consultation which is entirely not advisable yet they do only know US laws. Good to hear at that it was stopped or canceled. If not then would really face some legal issues same as being said above. Dont entrust any ICO advisor or lawyers online which doesnt specialize on all aspects or doesnt even know on laws internationally of each country. This would really give trouble later on.

Maybe that's why they hire lawyers. Unfortunately, the advises given is too shallow because everyone involved in the cryptoverse already know such limitations, and even a jr. member or a member rank knows that. I really don't know how can they themselves be a lawyer in this industry when their knowledge is so limited. And damn, what a fee this guys are asking. LOL. I never heard of this ICOBox though, probably they are not really lawyers, but running a scam here. They can just get that 16 BTC and exit immediately, resurface again with different name.

These guidelines are a caution preventing other from possible risks.

I agree with you, actually ICObox took the advantage of client of OP as there are really shortage of legal expert related to blockchain sector in the market. Also this matter proves there is a huge scope for people who will pursue their education in legal related to blockchain sectors.