SEC Sues Unicoin Over $100M Crypto Fraud Built on False Real Estate Claims

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Unicoin, Inc., a New York City-based company, and three of its top executives: CEO and Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin; Silvina Moschini, former president and board chairwoman, and current board member; and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez. The charges stem from allegedly false and misleading statements made during the offering of certificates tied to future Unicoin tokens, as well as Unicoin’s common stock.

According to the SEC, the company promoted these certificates as granting rights to receive Unicoin tokens, which they claimed would be backed by substantial real-world assets—including a global portfolio of valuable real estate. However, the SEC contends these asset claims were grossly exaggerated.

“We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings,” said Mark Cave, Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory. Unicoin’s most senior executives are alleged to have perpetuated the fraud, and today’s action seeks accountability for their conduct.”

The SEC alleges that Unicoin aggressively marketed the rights certificates to the public through an extensive advertising campaign—featuring placements in airports, on thousands of taxis in New York City, and across television and social media platforms. These efforts convinced over 5,000 investors to buy in, based on misleading claims that:

• The Unicoin tokens were “asset-backed” by billions in real estate and equity in pre-IPO companies, when the company’s actual assets were worth only a small portion of that amount;
• The company had raised over $3 billion through the sale of rights certificates, when in reality it had raised no more than $110 million;
• The rights certificates and tokens were “SEC-registered” or “U.S. registered,” though they were not.

The complaint also accuses Konanykhin and Unicoin of violating registration requirements under U.S. securities law. Specifically, Konanykhin allegedly sold more than 37.9 million of his own rights certificates to investors who were otherwise restricted from participating, circumventing offering exemptions and misleading investors with better pricing.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC’s complaint charges Unicoin, Konanykhin, Moschini, and Dominguez with violating antifraud provisions of federal securities laws. It also charges Unicoin and Konanykhin with unregistered securities offerings, and Konanykhin as a control person in connection with Unicoin’s misconduct. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, the return of ill-gotten gains with interest, civil penalties, and officer-and-director bars for the three executives.

Unicoin’s General Counsel, Richard Devlin, is also named for allegedly violating antifraud laws by negligently including misleading statements in private placement memoranda used to market rights certificates and common stock. Devlin has agreed to settle without admitting or denying the allegations, consenting to permanent injunctive relief and a $37,500 civil penalty.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Adam B. Gottlieb, Jason Schall, and Joss Berteaud, under the supervision of W. Bradley Ney and Mark Cave. Litigation will be led by Russell Feldman and Gottlieb, and overseen by Jack Kaufman.