Titanium Blockchain CEO bags 4 years Jail term over Fraud Case

Micheal Stollery, the founder of Titanum Blockchain has been sentenced  to a 4 years jail term after pleading guilty in July last year.

This pronouncement put an end to the bringing an initial coin offering (ICO) scam from 2018 to a finish that cost investors $21 million.

Michael Alan Stollery, the CEO and founder of Titanium Blockchain

The Department of Justice, yesterday,  claims that Michael Stollery, who formed Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services (TBIS), was a prominent player in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme involving an ICO for TBIS that took place between late 2017 and early 2018.

Stollery acknowledged to have fabricating details of TBIS whitepapers, posting fictitious client testimonials on the company’s website, and asserting fraudulent business ties to the US Federal Reserve, all of which were done to deceive investors about the TBIS’ validity and potential for financial gain.

As reported by the SEC, he also acknowledged combining ICO investors’ assets with his own and utilizing a portion to cover unrelated costs like credit card bills and rent for his Hawaii condo.

In order to take part in the ICO, investors bought a cryptocurrency token called BARs. The Department of Justice estimates that $21 million was raised domestically and abroad.

Nevertheless, among other things, the Titanium Blockchain boss was accused of not registering the ICO with the regulator in a United States Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit in 2018.

SEC implementing Strict Regulations

With the recent rise in crypto scam, the SEC has been on their toes, coming up with strict regulations to mitigate against these events in future.

According to Cornerstone Research, the SEC brought 30 legal actions in 2022, up from 20 in 2021, against participants in the market for digital assets. These legal proceedings included cryptocurrencies.

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) were a subject of 14 of the 30 enforcement actions in 2022, with fraud charges accounting for more over half of these.

The SEC continues to pursue actions alleging that tokens issued in connection with unregistered securities offerings related to ICOs were investment contracts subject to SEC regulation and enforcement, according to Abe Chernin, vice president of Cornerstone Research and co-head of its FinTech practice.

“We have seen an increase in cooperation to the SEC from outside authorities and groups during crypto-related investigations throughout the Gensler administration,” he stated.

Key Takeaway

• Titanium Blockchain CEO behind bars for ICO fraud.
• Investors lost $21 million investing in the ICO scheme.
• SEC beefing up security and regulations to mitigate against fraud cases in crypto exchange.

Final thought

Crypto is volatile and still in its developing stage. Therefore, there are likely to be cases of fraud. While this not a financial advice, investors and traders should ensure that they verify the platforms before investing hard earned money so as to avoid being a victim of scam in the volatile market. Also, SEC proposed strategies might turn out to be a good development to reducing the rate of scam in the crypto world as well as save investors and traders some headache.