The United States District Court for Southern District of California has ordered the founder of Blockvest LLC, Reginald Buddy Ringgold, to pay a penalty of $700K. The court has included a civil penalty of $332,370.99 along with a penalty for receiving ill-gotten gains of $363,726.91, including prejudgment interest. The legal action comes after Blockvest’s unregistered <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/blockvest-strains-as-judge-rules-in-favour-the-of-sec/">Initial Coin Offering</a> (ICO) in 2018.
<h2><strong> Blockvest to Pay $700k Penalty In ICO Fraud Suit</strong></h2>
The court has filed charges against both Blockvest, and its founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold III, also known as Rasool Abdul Rahim El.

As per the <a href="https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20423170-final-judgment-dec-10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">court document</a>:

<em>"The SEC, as a government agency, seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of funds received from Defendants’ illegal conduct, and civil penalties."</em>

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had filed a complaint regarding the sale of unregistered securities from an initial coin offering (ICO). The complaint stated that Blockvest had falsely claimed its ICO and its affiliates had received regulatory approval from the various agencies including the SEC.
<h2><strong>Defendant Falsely Claimed Connections to CFTC and  NFA</strong></h2>
At one point, the company founder and his associates even promoted the ICO with a fake regulatory agency called the Blockchain Exchange Commission. The agency had a seal similar to that of the SEC, with similar addresses to the headquarters of the SEC. The founder had initially defended against his doing, however, the accusations leveled up against him.

The document highlighted:

<em>"Defendants misrepresented that the initial coin offering was ‘registered’ with and ‘approved’ by the SEC and used the SEC’s logo."</em>

The defendant had also falsely claimed connections to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, and the National Futures Association, or NFA.

As per the document, the total penalty cost comes up to Disgorgement payments, interest, and civil penalties coming to at a total cost of $696,097.90. The defendant must now pay a sum of compensation, including refunding the capital that participants put toward the offering.

Court Orders Blockvest to Pay $700k Penalty In ICO Fraud Suit

The United States District Court, Southern District of California has ordered Blockvest LLC, to pay a penalty of $700K regarding unregistered ICO from 2018.

Jafrin is a cryptocurrency journalist/researcher fascinated by the world of decentralization. She is hopeful towards blockchain’s innovation and its potential to reshape the world for good. Currently, she is bringing out the best of cryptosphere via covering the latest ins and outs of the blockchain space.

Court Orders Blockvest to Pay $700k Penalty In ICO Fraud Suit

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