securities
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SEC investigates Coinbase, says it may have illegally sold unregistered securities
Coinbase is facing an SEC probe into whether it allowed users to trade digital tokens that should have been registered as securities.
Telegram to pay $18.5 million and return $1.2 billion following SEC crypto charges
Telegram has been fined $18.5 million for not properly following securities regulations.
SEC sues Kik for running an unregistered Initial Coin Offering
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing messaging service Kik Interactive, stating that its 2017 digital token sale, which raised $100 million, was essentially an illegal, unregistered securities offering. According to Bloomberg, this is one the highest profile cases yet where the SEC has targeted a company for not registering an offering with the regulator.
Massachusetts halts five ICOs for defying financial rules
It's not just the feds concerned about sketchy cryptocurrency fundraising. Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has ordered a halt to the sale of five initial coin offerings (18 Moons, Across Platforms, Mattervest, Pink Ribbon and Sparkco) for offering "unregistered securities." All five listed the state as their place of business, but hadn't registered with the state to sell their wares. That should be a "red flag" to any potential investors, Galvin said.
SEC Cyber Unit's first charges target cryptocurrency fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission's new Cyber Unit has filed its first charges since being formed in September. The unit's case is being brought against a company called PlexCorps, its founder Dominic Lacroix and his partner Sabrina Paradis-Royer and the SEC claims that Lacroix and Paradis-Royer were actively defrauding investors. PlexCorps was engaged in an initial coin offering (ICO) -- which was selling securities called PlexCoin -- that had already raised around $15 million since August and it was fraudulently promising that investors would see a 13-fold profit in just under one month. The SEC obtained an emergency asset freeze to halt the ICO.
Sprint Nextel takes control of Clearwire after increasing stake to 50.8 percent
A securities filing has just revealed that Sprint Nextel has acquired 50.8 percent of Clearwire Corp giving it control of the firm. The deal comes after buying out Eagle River Holdings' stake in the telco. This comes just days after Sprint was subject to a sale of its own, to Japanese operator Softbank. The news is the latest twist in the up and down relationship between the two firms, and hints at a more assertive LTE strategy -- given that it now has more say over Clearwire's spectrum. Although it remains unclear how this will affect deals with other operators. If you really want to get in to the nitty-gritty, head on down to the Securities and Exchange Commission doc in the source link below. [Thanks, James K]
LG smartphone boom follows major R&D reshuffling, says analyst
South Korean electronics giant LG came out swinging with its line of Optimus products at Mobile World Congress this year, delivering the 4X HD, 3D Max, Vu and a trinity of L-series handsets. So how does one shop deliver six handsets to the public, you ask? Resources. A recent note to investors from Nomura Securities reveals that in 2011, the Life's Good gang assigned a larger portion of its R&D team to its smartphone division. The report claims that the company had 60 to 70 percent of its 8,000 person research outfit assigned to the Optimus-making arm at the end of last year. That's up from the 20 percent share of a 6,800 person staff it boasted just 365 days earlier. There's no doubt LG will be looking to steal the smartphone thunder of Samsung and HTC in 2012, but is this lineup of products enough? Only time (and sell-through figures) will tell.
Several Second Life banks hacked - millions stolen
The last few days have seen some consternation in the Second Life economic markets as several banks have had their servers brute-forced hacked. Understandably there is a fair amount of uncertainty as some of the affected parties are being less than forthcoming, but according to Nobody Fugazi, normally a reliable commentator, the following banks have been attacked, although SLIB seems to have escaped without any loses: L&L Bank and Trust SL Investor's Bank Giovinazzo Choice Investments Whitfield Holdings/Royal Invest SL Business Bank LNLBT has publicly stated it has lost over US$11,000 (about L$3,000,000) and has currently suspended trading. LNLBT has also notified the governance team at LL and is working with them. One has to wonder when the police or FBI will be involved too. Hacking a server for cash is a criminal offense in most places, and although US$11,000 isn't the biggest fraud in the world, it's not something you're likely to see ignored.
Steve Jobs subpoenaed over stock option backdating
It's not easy being Steve Jobs. When you're not jet-setting around the world, introducing your disappointing EDGE-only iPhone to the European market, you're getting subpoenaed by US securities regulators over a lawsuit concerning stock option backdating. According to reports, El-Jobso has been called in for the US Securities and Exchange's case against former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen over backdating option grants to Jobs and other executives. Apparently, Heinen is looking for 45 depositions for the case, though the SEC is hoping to limit that to 12 (per party). SEC lawyers are claiming that Heinen and former Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson (of Elevation Partners fame) backdated more than $20 million in stock options in 2001 for Jobsy, themselves, and other executives. Anderson -- who's already paid $3.5 million in fines -- claims he was given permission by Jobs himself to backdate the options. An internal Apple review claims it found two questionable stock options awarded to Jobs, but found no wrongdoing on his part. For Jobs' sake, let's hope he stays out of the slammer -- a pretty face like that won't last long on the inside.[Thanks, Randall]
Next generation console victor to be decided by Hollywood?
Wedbush Morgan Securities is of the mind that the battle between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray disc format could very well dictate the conclusion of the next generation console wars. The report suggests that the film studios could be the ones responsible for deciding the victor in the next generation console war by choosing which format to support in distributing their movies to retail, whether it be on HD-DVD or Sony's Blu-ray technology. Considering that the gaming industry is pulling in as much revenue as the film industry, whichever format Hollywood favors could heavily tip the scales, without a doubt. Who do you think is going to come out on top of this conflict, HD-DVD or Blu-ray?
