The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Green United.
The SEC alleged that the Utah-based company violated federal securities laws by selling $18m worth of phoney crypto mining equipment.
The SEC said Ryan Alexander Black, the founder of Green United, defrauded at least 400 investors between 2017 and 2022 by offering contracts to mine cryptocurrencies, promising them up to 15 times their investment in profits.
Investors were also told the success of their investments depended on Green United maintaining control of their “Green Boxes” which would be remotely hosted at a Green United-controlled data centre with GREEN tokens generated by their machines and distributed to investors.
The company never conducted any mining activities and did not generate any profits from trading. The SEC alleges Black used investors' money to fund a lavish lifestyle, purchasing luxury vehicles and jewellery.
According to the SEC, Green United’s mining machines never mined GREEN, because GREEN was not mineable crypto and the Green blockchain didn’t exist.
The SEC have been coming down hard on potential crypto scammers and recently froze the assets of Miami-based investment advisor BKCoin Management who were accused of using $100m from 55 investors to maintain its executives luxurious lifestyles.
The SEC is urging investors to be cautious of fraudulent investment schemes that promise high returns with low risks, as they are often too good to be true.
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