SEC used investor information to equate Gram with securities

In preparing the lawsuit against the Telegram Open Network (TON), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relied heavily on information received from project investors, CoinDesk reports.

This was confirmed to the Internet publication by the CEO of HASH CIB, Yakov Barinsky, who advised some of the funds that invested in TON. According to him, in September, the regulator contacted the American investors of the project and requested information about the data that was provided to them for its promotion.

“I know that the SEC turned to them and asked how the deal was arranged, what documents were transmitted and if any information was missed, ” Barinsky said, declining to name his customers.

The regulator’s lawsuit does contain information that was not supposed to be divulged. In particular, the SEC cites “a presentation for a single investor from the US in January 2018.” To attract him, “Telegram talked about his“ high-level technical service ”and“ the possible return on investment in 0x-50x ”.

SEC used the information received to substantiate the conclusion that during the Gram token sale the placement of unregistered securities.

“At the beginning of 2018, the investor acquired Gram tokens for $ 27.5 million, which were not and will not be used at the time of launch, demonstrating the intention to capitalize on the potential increase in their value,” the regulator said.

It was probably investor evidence that enabled the SEC to classify Gram as a security. According to the Howie test , the regulator received confirmation of the fact of investments and expectations of profit from them. In addition, the funds are invested in a regular enterprise and the size of the possible profit does not depend on the efforts of the investor.

However, two other TON investors interviewed by CoinDesk said they were not promised a “0x-50x return.” Such inconsistencies in disclosed information could be another alarm to the SEC.

Court Order by BlockchainJournal on Scribd

Recall that Telegram did not agree with the position of the American regulator and is preparing options for further action.

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