SEC charges Ryan Ginster for $3.6 million crypto fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Ryan Ginster with conducting two unregistered and fraudulent securities offerings that raised over $3.6 million in cryptocurrency from retail investors.

The complaint regards a $3.6 million fundraiser in Bitcoin through two online platforms – MyMicroProfits.com and Social Profimatic.

According to the agency, Ryan Ginster promised astronomical rates of return by falsely claiming returns through, amongst other activities, purported “cryptocurrency trading and advertising arbitrage.”

The regulator alleges Ginster deceived investors in both offerings about how their funds would be used because Ginster misappropriated at least $1 million of the funds raised to pay personal expenses, including tax payments, housing expenses, and credit card bills.

Michele Wein Layne, Regional Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office, said: “Defendant Ryan Ginster allegedly engaged in a fraudulent scheme raising millions in cryptocurrency using online investment programs and then converted the cryptocurrency for his own benefit.

“Individuals who hide behind the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions to defraud investors should expect that the SEC will trace their illegal activity and hold them accountable for their actions.”

The complaint charges Ginster with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

The SEC has recently charged a rogue trader, Keith A. Wakefield, with causing millions of dollars of losses through unauthorized trading in fixed income securities and with fraudulently obtaining approximately $820,000 in fictitious commission income.

The former managing director and head of fixed-income trading at IFS Securities has managed to ruin the Atlanta-based broker-dealer, according to the complaint.

Keith Wakefield has been in the securities industry since 1999 and previously worked at Cabrera Capital Markets, LaSalle Financial Services and ABN Amro Incorporated.

In October, the agency charged two traders in a wash trading scheme that resulted in more than $700,000 in illicit profits.

Centered on trading derivatives of so-called meme stocks, the SEC accused Suyun Gu and Yong Lee of taking advantage of the maker-taker model in options markets to collect liquidly rebates offered by a number of stockbrokers.

The Florida resident and his business associate simultaneously placed buy and sell orders for the same meme stocks, including GameStop. While the practice leaves their actual exposure balanced, the net result was that their risk-free positions yielded rebates thanks to the pricing model offered by broker-dealer platforms.