SEC Charges Convicted Criminal Who Conducted Fraudulent ICO Using a Fake Identity

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged convicted criminal Boaz Manor, his business associate, and two businesses, CG Blockchain Inc. and BCT Inc. SEZC, with raising over $30 million from hundreds of investors in a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). According to the SEC’s complaint, between August 2017 and September 2018, the defendants marketed and sold digital asset securities in a purported effort to develop technologies for hedge funds and other investors in digital assets. As alleged, Manor, a resident of Toronto, Canada, darkened his hair, grew a beard, and used aliases to hide his identity and conceal the fact that he had served a year in prison after pleading guilty to criminal charges arising from the collapse of a large Canadian hedge fund.