Titanium Blockchain CEO Pleads Guilty to $21 Million ICO Scam

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that Michael Alan Stollery, the CEO and Founder of the $21 million initial coin offering (ICO) scam of Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services pled guilty to his crime.

He pled guilty to one count of securities fraud and is now facing jail time of up to 20 years. His sentencing has been scheduled for November 18 at a federal district court.

The Titanium ICO defrauded investors in both the United States and overseas until the SEC stopped the offering with a court order in May 2018.

The 54-year-old admitted that he touted the cryptocurrency project to be an investment opportunity to lure investors through false and misleading statements. The authority highlighted that Titanium ICO neither had any authorization from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is one of the most widely known independent authorities in the United States. The SEC has a wide range of responsibilities, helping police markets and curbing against abuse. This includes enforcing federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the US’ stock and options exchanges.As one of the paramount regulatory authorities in the US, the SEC is responsible for the oversight of public companies in the aforementioned segments.Wha The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is one of the most widely known independent authorities in the United States. The SEC has a wide range of responsibilities, helping police markets and curbing against abuse. This includes enforcing federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the US’ stock and options exchanges.As one of the paramount regulatory authorities in the US, the SEC is responsible for the oversight of public companies in the aforementioned segments.Wha Read this Term) nor had any exemption to offer such investments, thus violating the country’s securities law.

Stollery further admitted that he falsified the aspects of Titanium ICO’s whitepaper Whitepaper A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho Read this Term. He even added fake client testimonials on Titanium’s website. The project even claimed that it had inked deals with big names like PayPal, Boeing and Walt Disney.

But that was not all. Stollery even falsely claimed that he had a business relationship with the Federal Reserve.

Moreover, his guilty plea includes admission to the misappropriation of customer funds. He spent a portion of the ICO proceeds on credit card payments and even paying bills for his Hawaii condominium.

The ICO Bust

The ICO market peaked in 2017 but now has almost vanished. Fraudsters used the market hype to lure investors toward scams. The SEC has busted dozens of fake ICO and cryptocurrency projects. Many were outright scams, while several violated US securities law.

Meanwhile, the SEC is engaged in a legal battle with the blockchain company, Ripple. The regulator alleged that the blockchain-based payments firm raised $1.2 billion with its XRP token, which falls under the category of securities.