The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Emiliano S. Ryn of Las Vegas, Nevada and his company GexCrypto Corp. of committing fraud against members of the Filipino community through a crypto asset scheme.
The SEC's complaint filed in the United States District Court of Nevada alleges that Ryn posed as a successful Filipino entrepreneur in the cryptocurrency industry and promised to help members of his community become wealthy by investing in GexCrypto, a claimed cutting-edge crypto asset trading platform and a crypto asset mining operation.
Between late 2017 and mid-2018, Ryn is believed to have raised over $800,000 from 26 investors, some of whom took out home equity loans to invest. Despite presenting GexCrypto as a top-notch trading platform with advanced service and technology, the platform never materialized and was never functional, according to the complaint. Ryn's assurances to investors of guaranteed returns of at least $10,000 per month from the crypto asset mining business were also false, the complaint further alleges. In the end, Ryn failed to pay any returns and investors lost their entire investments.
According to the SEC's complaint, Ryn was able to raise at least $448,500 from seven investors for the alleged Mining Operation. One investor took out a $200,000 home equity loan and sold a property in the Philippines to invest in the operation. Another investor used the funds they were saving for their children's college education, to invest $100,000 in the scam. When Investor 5 told Ryn they could no longer invest more money, Ryn tried to convince them to hand over the deed to a property they owned in the Philippines. Investor 6 took out a $90,000 home equity loan to make a $100,000 investment in the operation, while Investor 7 withdrew $48,000 from their 401K to invest in the operation.
The final judgment against Ryn includes disgorgement of $825,994.37, prejudgment interest of $187,567.87, and a civil money penalty of $1,000,000.
The final ruling against Ryn also prohibits him from serving as a leader or board member of any public corporation and from engaging in the creation, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, except for his own personal transactions. This settlement awaits judicial approval.
The down side here is not only were these people scammed out of their money but also that the fraud took place between 2017 and 2018. However the cases did not get settled until 2023, which is a long time. It is important to remember that if something is to good to be true it most likely is.
Another false crypto exchange. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them now, and every day people lose a lot of their own money to scams. I also once became a victim of fraud, but thanks to assistance-refund.com, I managed to get my money back.