SEC Bars Perpetrator of Initial Coin Offering Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained permanent officer-and-director and penny stock bars against the founder of a company who perpetrated a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) to fund oil exploration and drilling in California. According to the SEC’s order, David T. Laurance and Tomahawk Exploration LLC attempted to raise money through the sale of blockchain-based digital tokens called “Tomahawkcoins.” The SEC’s order finds that the defendants’ promotional materials used inflated projections of oil production that were contradicted by the company’s own internal analysis and misleadingly suggested that Tomahawk possessed leases for drilling sites when it did not. According to the order, the materials described Laurance as having a “flawless background” without disclosing his prior criminal conviction for his role in fraudulent securities offerings.