Maksim Zaslavskiy is sued by the SEC for ICO scamming [REcoin, DRC World]

[JasonXIII]

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-185-0

SEC Exposes Two Initial Coin Offerings Purportedly Backed by Real Estate and Diamonds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2017-185
Washington D.C., Sept. 29, 2017—
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a businessman and two companies with defrauding investors in a pair of so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) purportedly backed by investments in real estate and diamonds.

The SEC alleges that Maksim Zaslavskiy and his companies have been selling unregistered securities, and the digital tokens or coins being peddled don't really exist. According to the SEC's complaint, investors in REcoin Group Foundation and DRC World (also known as Diamond Reserve Club) have been told they can expect sizeable returns from the companies' operations when neither has any real operations.

Zaslavskiy allegedly touted REcoin as "The First Ever Cryptocurrency Backed by Real Estate."  Alleged misstatements to REcoin investors included that the company had a "team of lawyers, professionals, brokers, and accountants" that would invest REcoin's ICO proceeds into real estate when in fact none had been hired or even consulted. Zaslavskiy and REcoin allegedly misrepresented they had raised between $2 million and $4 million from investors when the actual amount is approximately $300,000.

According to the SEC's complaint, Zaslavskiy carried his scheme over to Diamond Reserve Club, which purportedly invests in diamonds and obtains discounts with product retailers for individuals who purchase "memberships" in the company. Despite their representations to investors, the SEC alleges that Zaslavskiy and Diamond have not purchased any diamonds nor engaged in any business operations. Yet they allegedly continue to solicit investors and raise funds as though they have.

The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of Zaslavskiy and his companies.

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy recently issued an investor alert warning about the risks of ICOs.

"Investors should be wary of companies touting ICOs as a way to generate outsized returns," said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. "As alleged in our complaint, Zaslavskiy lured investors with false promises of sizeable returns from novel technology."

The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Brooklyn, N.Y., charges Zaslavskiy, REcoin, and Diamond with violations of the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions and disgorgement plus interest and penalties. For Zaslavskiy, the SEC also seeks an officer-and-director bar and a bar from participating in any offering of digital securities.

The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Jorge Tenreiro, Pamela Sawhney and Valerie A. Szczepanik. The case is being supervised by Lara S. Mehraban. The SEC encourages victims of the alleged fraud to contact Ms. Szczepanik at (212) 336-1100.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2014062.0


The new Madoff?

Who knows this guy?

[ZaoXhou]

Never heard of the guy or his project, I'm not really for more regulation but feels good when a scammer gets caught  .

[leea-1334]

Never heard of this ICO either. But am not surprised with names like DRC,,, I mean, there is something off about names that sound so MLM and ponzi-like. And even the language of the marketing gives them away. Pay attention to details, guys, before you put your hard-earned crypto into ICOs. If they sound too good to be true,,, they are. If you cannot find a way to make sense of the information, then the information is probably misleading. Sounds like simple logic, and it is!

[JasonXIII]

Never heard of this ICO either. But am not surprised with names like DRC,,, I mean, there is something off about names that sound so MLM and ponzi-like. And even the language of the marketing gives them away. Pay attention to details, guys, before you put your hard-earned crypto into ICOs. If they sound too good to be true,,, they are. If you cannot find a way to make sense of the information, then the information is probably misleading. Sounds like simple logic, and it is!

We can see his face on twitter https://twitter.com/mzrecoin and on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/101mzaslavskiy/
https://www.facebook.com/mzaslavskiy
https://www.facebook.com/maksim.zaslavskiy

[Pab]

I saw on twitter "The First Ever Cryptocurrency Backed by Real Estate and i saw similar first Cryptocurrency backed by real land,become land owner,total scam made in Russia,few photos done in photoshop and give me the money.I can only say there are better scams.But if ico is blocked for usa investors than SEC can do nothing

[BitWhale]

Just wait for all the other ICO's to start going down, it's going to be a shitfest  even legit ICO's will get caught up because they still broke the law.

[poodle63]

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-185-0

SEC Exposes Two Initial Coin Offerings Purportedly Backed by Real Estate and Diamonds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2017-185
Washington D.C., Sept. 29, 2017—
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a businessman and two companies with defrauding investors in a pair of so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) purportedly backed by investments in real estate and diamonds.

The SEC alleges that Maksim Zaslavskiy and his companies have been selling unregistered securities, and the digital tokens or coins being peddled don't really exist. According to the SEC's complaint, investors in REcoin Group Foundation and DRC World (also known as Diamond Reserve Club) have been told they can expect sizeable returns from the companies' operations when neither has any real operations.

Zaslavskiy allegedly touted REcoin as "The First Ever Cryptocurrency Backed by Real Estate."  Alleged misstatements to REcoin investors included that the company had a "team of lawyers, professionals, brokers, and accountants" that would invest REcoin's ICO proceeds into real estate when in fact none had been hired or even consulted. Zaslavskiy and REcoin allegedly misrepresented they had raised between $2 million and $4 million from investors when the actual amount is approximately $300,000.

According to the SEC's complaint, Zaslavskiy carried his scheme over to Diamond Reserve Club, which purportedly invests in diamonds and obtains discounts with product retailers for individuals who purchase "memberships" in the company. Despite their representations to investors, the SEC alleges that Zaslavskiy and Diamond have not purchased any diamonds nor engaged in any business operations. Yet they allegedly continue to solicit investors and raise funds as though they have.

The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of Zaslavskiy and his companies.

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy recently issued an investor alert warning about the risks of ICOs.

"Investors should be wary of companies touting ICOs as a way to generate outsized returns," said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. "As alleged in our complaint, Zaslavskiy lured investors with false promises of sizeable returns from novel technology."

The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Brooklyn, N.Y., charges Zaslavskiy, REcoin, and Diamond with violations of the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions and disgorgement plus interest and penalties. For Zaslavskiy, the SEC also seeks an officer-and-director bar and a bar from participating in any offering of digital securities.

The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Jorge Tenreiro, Pamela Sawhney and Valerie A. Szczepanik. The case is being supervised by Lara S. Mehraban. The SEC encourages victims of the alleged fraud to contact Ms. Szczepanik at (212) 336-1100.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2014062.0


The new Madoff?

Who knows this guy?

Another scammer wants to grab the easy money through idea but the first thing taht the idea was senseless for me. This is my first time to see the name of the project and all of the creators and they are all should be arrested by sec.

[illyiller]

The new Madoff?

Who knows this guy?

Comparing him to Madoff is overkill. In the grand scheme of ICOs, he hardly raised any money. Two ICOs and all he raised was $300,000, although he represented that he raised much more:

Zaslavskiy and REcoin allegedly misrepresented they had raised between $2 million and $4 million from investors when the actual amount is approximately $300,000.

Still, that's quite a lot of money considering how shady his projects looked. They had no evidence of any competent development or project management teams, nor evidence of consultants in the industries they purported to capitalize on. The people who put money into this project must not have done any research whatsoever. There was a warning thread about REcoin a few months back that makes this obvious: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2054127.0

I expect more of these actions by regulators in the future.

[JasonXIII]

Any news about this case?

[JasonXIII]

It could be great to have some news about this case.

[JasonXIII]

Still no news from anybody?