The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained the final judgment for an initial coin offering (ICO) promotion scheme against the late businessman John McAfee and his accomplice Jimmy Gale Watson, Jr. filed on October 5, 2020.
In the original lawsuit, The SEC alleged that McAfee and Watson promoted ICO investments on Twitter without disclosing that they were being paid for it. Watson allegedly helped McAfee negotiate promotional deals with ICO issuers and collect crypto payments, among other pump and dump charges.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found Watson guilty of violating the law and imposed a cumulative fine of $375,934.86.. Additionally, Watson has been prohibited from participating in ICO-related issues, purchases, offers or sales. In the litigation it is stated:
“However, such court order will not prevent Watson from buying or selling securities for his own personal accounts.”
To wrap up the impending case, the SEC’s lawsuits against McAfee were dismissed after the Commission filed a death notice for the infamous businessman.
The US Treasury solicited input from the public to include in the report to the president on the potential implications of digital assets for finance and payment infrastructure. Sharing her views on the matter, Nellie Liang, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, stated
“For consumers, digital assets can present potential benefits, such as faster payments, as well as potential risks, including risks related to fraud and scams.”
Therefore, Liang hopes to get input from Americans and market participants to better understand the impacts of integrating crypto assets.
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