The SEC Has Won a New Battle
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has triumphed again. This time, it made Hydrogen Technology Corporation and its former CEO Michael Ross Kane pay a pretty penny.
On April 20, a New York District Court Judge ruled against Hydrogen Technology Corporation and its former CEO Michael Ross Kane. As a result, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will receive $2.8 million in remedies and civil penalties.
In addition, Hydrogen CEO Michael Kane is set to pay an individual fine of approximately $260,000 while the remaining amount is made up of prejudgement interest.
The decision comes after a seven-month-long lawsuit, with the SEC alleging that Hydrogen manipulated the price of cryptocurrencies.
The SEC filed its complaint in September, claiming that Kane used Hydrogen’s market maker Moonwalkers Trading Limited to perpetrate a manipulative scheme. Thanks to it, he manipulated the volume and price of its ERC-20 token, Hydro (HYDRO).
The coin’s price has slumped dramatically in the past month, with the coin now trading at $0.001307.
Source: Coinmarketcap
According to the SEC’s materials, Kane and Moonwalkers CEO Tyler Ostern collaborated “to create the false appearance of robust market activity” after they distributed HYDRO using airdrops, bounty programs, and direct-to-market sales in 2018.
As a result, the SEC said, Ostern sold the tokens in an “artificially inflated market” which saw Hydrogen bag over $2 million in profit.
While Ostern agreed to settle the case for $41,000 the day after the complaint was filed, Hydrogen and Kane are not allowed to dispute the charges that have been levied against them by the SEC. Additionally, Hydro tokens will now have to pass the Howey test to receive approval from the SEC.
Previously, GNCrypto reported that Gary Gensler's position at the SEC is in jeopardy.
