SEC Charges Founder of AI-Start Up With Fraudulent Misrepresentations

SEC Charges Founder of Artificial Intelligence Start-Up with Defrauding Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges today against Michael Brackett (“Brackett”), the founder and CEO of purported artificial intelligence start-up Centricity, Inc., for allegedly engaging in a multimillion-dollar offering fraud.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from 2019 through 2021, Brackett raised $2.8 million from seven investors by making fraudulent misrepresentations about Centricity’s customers and revenue as well as Brackett’s own educational and employment background. The complaint alleges that Brackett repeatedly told prospective investors that Centricity had contracts with several large national companies and that Centricity’s revenue was several million dollars while soliciting their investments. In fact, as alleged in the complaint, there is no evidence that Centricity or Brackett had any contact with most of the companies Brackett asserted were Centricity’s customers, let alone contracts with them. The complaint also alleges that Centricity had no revenue in 2020 and less than $60,000 in revenue in 2021….

Crypto Trader’s Fraud Conviction Undercuts Exchange Code Defense

A crypto trader’s fraud conviction for exploiting cryptocurrency exchange rules to steal $110 million is a strike against the “code is law” argument championed by some decentralized finance proponents.

But Avraham Eisenberg’s conviction last week also raises questions about the reach of US wire fraud laws, which target using electronic communications to defraud people and have increasingly been used in crypto cases.

“He didn’t lie to anybody,” Polsinelli PC attorney Jonathan Schmalfeld said, noting Eisenberg’s alleged fraud was carried out against an algorithm that runs Mango Markets. “He didn’t even lie to the machine.”

Elon Musk says Texas forever. Shareholders should not

More interestingly, Tesla is asking shareholders to let the EV maker relocate its corporate domicile from Delaware to Texas. The materials noted that 87 per cent of respondents to Musk’s Twitter plebiscite in January, just after the pay package ruling, were in favour of a move. When actual large institutions formally vote, including the likes of BlackRock and Vanguard, do not expect similar support.

Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance Exec Who Fled to Kenya, Faces Extradition Back to Nigeria: Reports

Nadeem Anjarwalla, an executive at crypto exchange Binance who recently escaped Nigerian custody, has been located in Kenya and faces extradition, multiple local media outlets have reported.

Nigerian authorities have found Anjarwalla in Kenya and are working with Kenyan authorities to bring the executive back to the country, Nigeria’s Daily Post reported last week, citing government sources. Nigerian newspaper The Punch reported on Monday, citing unnamed government sources, that Anjarwalla could be returned to Nigeria within the week via the international criminal police organization (INTERPOL).

SEC illegally tracking Americans who invest in the stock market, lawsuit claims

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is illegally collecting data of every citizen who invests in the stock market, according to a new lawsuit.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed the suit Tuesday against the SEC claiming that the agency, through its “Consolidated Audit Trail,” or “CAT,” program, is collecting mass amounts of personally identifiable data by forcing brokers, exchanges, clearing agencies and alternative trading systems to capture and send detailed information on every investor’s trades in U.S. markets to a centralized database.

The agency is doing so, NCLA says, without authorization from Congress and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable government search and seizure of private information.