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The Unicoin SEC fraud case is heating up as the crypto firm prepares a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against it in May. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Unicoin and three top executives of misleading investors and raising over $100 million through false claims about its crypto offerings and company stock. Regulators allege the company sought to disguise its fundraising in the “veneer of regulation.”
Unicoin, however, argues the complaint distorts its record and ignores key disclosures. In its forthcoming filing, the company insists it has operated with “transparency, compliance, and responsible innovation from the start,” pointing to its voluntary securities registration, audited financials, and sales restricted to accredited investors.
Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin has gone on the offensive, portraying the unicoin sec fraud case lawsuit as political theater. He claims the action was driven by “henchmen” from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s enforcement team.
“In the high point of his war on crypto, Gensler saw the Unicoin logo highly visible in Manhattan,” Konanykhin told Decrypt, referring to a high-profile ad campaign. “Our NYSE listing would mean a humiliating defeat of his anti-crypto crusade.”
He alleges Gensler ordered subpoenas to disrupt Unicoin’s ecosystem of investors, brokers, auditors, and bankers, adding: “Just like during the two preceding investigations, the SEC investigators found no violation in our work. We were cutting no corners, complying with all rules, and had top-level securities lawyers and auditors. So, they crudely fabricated false charges.”
Among the SEC’s allegations in the unicoin sec fraud case, Unicoin is accused of overstating the value of international real estate deals meant to back its token—including acquisitions in Argentina, Antigua, Thailand, and the Bahamas. Regulators claim the company touted transactions that had not closed or exaggerated valuations.
Unicoin’s motion to dismiss counters that the agency is conflating contractual commitments with completed transfers of title. The company says each deal was backed by binding agreements and valued in Unicoin tokens exchanged for land. For instance, in 2023, it announced a $335 million agreement to purchase a Thai luxury resort, stating it would pay 140% of the property’s appraised value in its tokens.
Konanykhin maintains that the company’s plan to finalize ownership was blocked by the SEC’s enforcement actions, which delayed its initial coin offering.
The SEC further alleges Unicoin misrepresented its financial position while selling “Unicoin Rights Certificates,” and that Konanykhin improperly sold nearly 38 million of them to ineligible investors. Unicoin disputes this, stating that its marketing materials always balanced optimism with risk disclosures, and that regulators are cherry-picking statements to paint projections as fraud.
“The SEC treats routine financial projection and optimism as fraud, while overlooking that Unicoin coupled every aspirational claim with sober warnings,” the company’s motion asserts.
Konanykhin also denies selling certificates to unaccredited investors, saying he only inquired about the possibility, which the SEC misconstrued.
The CEO contends the unicoin sec fraud case lawsuit has cost Unicoin’s 8,000 investors billions in lost value and derailed its public listing plans. “If we went public a year ago, I’m sure the stock market would give us a healthy premium,” he said. “Instead, we are forced to literally fight for our survival.” He estimates Unicoin could have been valued at $25 billion.
Despite Unicoin’s defiance, legal experts caution the company faces a steep legal challenge. Katherine Reilly, partner at Pryor Cashman and a former federal prosecutor, told Decrypt the SEC’s claims are more straightforward than some recent crypto cases that were dropped.
“It talks a lot about really traditional misrepresentations that Unicoin executives are alleged to have made,” Reilly explained. “For example, the SEC lays out claims that executives overstated financing and runway, and represented that their coin was backed by real property and assets that didn’t go through.”
Although the SEC has scaled back several high-profile crypto cases under the Trump-era commission, Reilly said this one could stick.
“This is a strong example of the type of enforcement action the SEC still plans to pursue,” she noted. “There’s clearly an effort by Unicoin to align itself with the new administration’s allyship with the crypto industry, but I don’t think that’s likely to mean much in front of a judge in the Southern District of New York.”
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