The Securities and Exchange Commission says its new cyber unit, created in September, has taken its first action, obtaining an emergency asset freeze on an alleged initial coin offering fraud. The SEC filed charges against a recidivist Quebec securities law violator, Dominic Lacroix, his company, PlexCorps, and his partner, Sabrina Paradis-Royer. The Commission alleges that Lacroix and PlexCorps marketed and sold securities called PlexCoin on the internet to investors in the U.S. and elsewhere, claiming that investments in PlexCoin would yield a 1,354% profit in less than 29 days. Investors have purchased approximately 81 million PlexCoin tokens for approximately $15 million. The cyber unit is focusing on misconduct involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings, the spread of false information through electronic and social media, hacking and threats to trading platforms, the SEC said.
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