Regulation
After Months of Silence by ICOBox, the SEC Seeks ‘Default Judgement’ and ‘Permanent Enjoinment’
No Response
Beginning roughly 4 months ago, the SEC set their sights on ICOBox, and actions taken by the company and its founder throughout 2017. The SEC states,
“ICOBox, an incubator for digital asset startups, was founded in mid-2017 by Evdokimov, its CEO and “vision director”. To raise funds, defendants sold approximately $14.6 million worth of securities in the form of digital assets called “ICOS” tokens. Between August 9, 2017 and September 15, 2017, defendants sold ICOS tokens to over 2,000 investors, in the United States and globally…By not registering the offering with the SEC, defendants violated the securities laws’ registration requirements”
Unfortunately, despite being made aware of the various charges laid against them, the SEC and Courts have been met with nothing but silence.
Default Judgement
The aforementioned lack of response has led to the recent developments, to be discussed here today. By failing to respond to the SEC’s filing, in September of 2019, ICOBox and its Founder, Nikolay Evdokimov, have essentially forced their hand.
Backed into a corner by the silence demonstrated by ICOBox, the SEC has filed for a ‘default judgment’ on their accusations of alleged securities violations. Simply put, a ‘default judgement’ refers to a ruling put forth by a Judge, when presented with a case where the defendants remain absent from the proceedings without valid reasoning.
While there existed the possibility of defending their actions, should a default judgement be awarded, ICOBox essentially forfeits this right.
Permanent Enjoinment
While a default judgement is being sought, the SEC has not stopped there. In their recent filing to the courts, the SEC attempts to build a case, which demonstrates the intimate nature between ICOBox and its founder, Nikolay Evdokimov.
The SEC hopes to show that Evdokimov was, not only the face of the company both internally and externally, but that he had a direct hand in the actions undertaken by ICOBox.
In doing so, the SEC hopes for the court to award a ‘permanent enjoinment’ of, both, the company and its founder. A ‘permanent enjoinment’ refers to a court enforced prohibition of certain activities imposed upon specific entities – in this case, ICOBox and Evdokimov.
Past Actions
When this saga first began, in September of 2019, we reported on the initial steps taken by the SEC. The allegations raised by the regulatory body, at that time, are only now coming to an end, as they look to close out the case and move on.
SEC Zeroes in on ICOBox Activity, Filing Multiple Charges
Requests of the Court
In their filing, the SEC elaborates on the various infractions committed by the company and its founder. They proceed to list various suggested/requested actions to be taken by the court against the defendants. The following are a few examples of their requests.
- ICOBox and Evdokimov should be permanently enjoined
- The Court should order joint and several disgorgement with prejudgment interest
- The Court should order second tier penalties against Evdokimov
- Default Judgement Should be Entered Without Delay
ICOBox
Launched in 2017, ICOBox was a service provider for companies looking to host token based capital generation events, such as ICOs and STOs. Since their inception, ICOBox has helped its clients raise over $650M, in addition to raising over $14M in funds through their very own ICO.
Company operations were overseen by Founder, and CEO, Nikolay Evdokimov.
In Other News
While every case surrounding illegal activity brought forth by the SEC is an important one, there are two, in particular, that have found themselves creating headlines in recent months. These would be the situations developing around, both, Ripple and Telegram. Each of these companies have been accused of actions violating existing securities laws. On various occasions we have covered these events as they develop. To learn more about these on-going cases, make sure to peruse the following articles.
