SEC bills 3 people for alleged long blockchain insider trading schemes – regulating Bitcoin News

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has indicted three people who allegedly engaged in insider trading in connection with the Long Blockchain company in 2017. One of the people reportedly traded stocks prior to the name change that gave the company a price boost. The other two people were tipped and used the data to act accordingly, says the US regulator. Long Blockchain, formerly Long Island Iced Tea, made huge profits from rebranding alone and took advantage of the blockchain’s growing popularity.

SEC is suing three over long blockchain insider trading

The Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is indicting three people who allegedly benefited from Long Blockchain’s name change in 2017. The lawsuit alleges the three people benefited from inside information and traded stocks before the famous rebranding took place. Among them is Eric Watson, who, according to the complaint, was responsible for the rebranding program. Watson reportedly notified Oliver Barret-Lindsay, a friend and realtor, of the renaming changes.

Barret-Lindsay also shared the information about the rebranding event with another friend, Gannon Giguiere. Giguiere went to work and bought 35,000 shares for a profit of more than $ 160,000. Barret-Lindsay and Giguiere are already facing legal proceedings for allegedly staging a stock manipulation program in connection with a medical company.

Richard Best, director of the SEC’s New York office, said:

The SEC remains committed to preventing all forms of fraudulent behavior in connection with alleged “crypto” companies, including the profit from trading in material non-public information.

A twist from iced tea to crypto

Long Blockchain is one of a select group of companies that took advantage of the blockchain craze in 2017. Many sports, apparel, and other companies have changed their names to be more attractive to the public. Long Island Iced Tea (LIIT) announced that it would gear its business model towards blockchain-related activities. However, no agreements have been made or a blockchain-related product released since the rebranding.

The company’s shares rose 289% in just one day, making long blockchain (LB) investors a good profit. Eric Watson was the company’s largest shareholder with 13% of the shares. However, happiness did not last long. The SEC took its shares off the stock exchanges last February. According to the regulator, Long Blockchain has not filed financial reports for several years. The last LB report filed with the SEC is from 2018.

This is the first time the SEC has taken action against companies that have changed their names during this time. Other measures could be taken on other companies that have made similar pivot and rebranding movements.

What do you think of the SEC’s measures against long blockchain? Let us know in the comments section below.

Tags in this story

Bitcoin, blockchain, cryptocurrency, insider trading, lawsuit, long blockchain, Long Island Iced Tea Corp, rebranding, regulations, SEC, US regulator, US SEC

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source https://bidsfor.me/sec-bills-3-people-for-alleged-long-blockchain-insider-trading-schemes-regulating-bitcoin-news/

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