Benzinga - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken emergency action against BKCoin Management and its principal, Kevin Kang, following their alleged involvement in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme.
What Happened: The SEC alleged BKCoin, which is based in Miami, and Kang raised $100 million from at least 55 investors between October 2018 and September 2022, but instead of investing in crypto assets, they used some of the money to make Ponzi-like payments and for personal use.
Kang also allegedly misappropriated $371,000 of investor money for personal expenses and tried to conceal the unauthorized use of investor money by providing altered documents with inflated bank account balances to the third-party administrator for certain of the funds.
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The SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeks permanent injunctions against both defendants, disgorgement, prejudgment interest and a civil penalty from both defendants, and an officer and director bar and conduct-based injunction against Kang.
The complaint also named relief defendants, including each of the funds and Bison Digital, an entity that allegedly received approximately $12 million from BKCoin and the funds.
The court has granted emergency relief against the relief defendants, including the appointment of a receiver.
The SEC's investigation is ongoing and being conducted by the Miami Regional Office.
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