SEC v. Sharma et al

The SEC brings enforcement action against defendants, the co-founders of Centra Tech, Inc., for orchestrating a fraudulent ICO, which raised over $25 million by selling unregistered CTR tokens and misappropriated these funds. The defendants falsely claimed Centra Tech had developed a debit card backed by Visa and Mastercard that allowed users to convert cryptocurrency into fiat currency and had formed partnerships with major financial institutions. In addition to the fraudulent claims, the SEC charged Sharma and his co-founders with engaging in a scheme to manipulate the price of the CTR tokens in the secondary market.

The defendants were charged with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of federal securities laws. In 2018, Sharma and Farkas were arrested and later pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud. Both were sentenced to prison and ordered to forfeit millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

1:18-cv-02909