Benzinga - Texas state regulators have filed an emergency cease and desist order against Horatiu Charlie Caragaceanu, also known as “The Shark of Wall Street,” and his hedge fund Hedge4.ai due to what they called an “artificial intelligence investment scam.”
What Happened: The TruthGPT Coin and Elon Musk AI Token were launched in March as a new digital asset investment campaign, said Texas regulators.
The tokens were marketed online through avatars portraying Musk and other well-known industry figures who are not connected to the project.
According to the order document, “The respondents are also touting the profitability of TruthGPT Coin — even claiming that TruthGPT Coin will increase in value by as much as 10,000 times.”
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According to the order, "Investors are also being told Elon Musk endorses TruthGPT Coin, and animated avatars and images of Elon Musk are being used to demonstrate his endorsement. Promotional media shows the purported involvement of various other public figures. For example, the website for TruthGPT Coin (truthgptc.com) is allegedly designed to create the appearance that Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, and Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, are part of the ecosystem."
TruthGPT Coin was presented as an AI-powered cryptocurrency investment advisor, powered by Elon Musk AI.
Why It Matters: However, while Musk has previously talked about creating a TruthGPT AI tool, it does not involve a token and is not connected in any way to the TruthGPT Coin cited in the order.
"Respondents marketed these digital assets as investments that would significantly increase in value, paid lucrative guaranteed returns, and/or generated considerable passive income," the Texas State Securities Board said. "However, these digital assets are now valued at or around $0 per token."
Price Action: At the time of writing, TruthGPT was trading at $0.00037, up 18.04% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
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