Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1403840
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 AUGUST 2021 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA RETIRED Olympic speed skat- ing champion Apolo Ohno and companies in Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malta, and Singapore are being sued in California for an alleged $50 million crypto fraud. Apolo Anton Ohno is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medallist in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American Olympian at the Winter Olym- pics and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019. Ohno, three companies he allegedly founded – Hy- brid Trade Limited, Allysian Sciences, and Asia Digital Ex- change – are defendants, along with Rod Jao, Eugenio Pugliese, and Henry Liu, in a complaint fied at a United States federal court in Los Angeles. Hybrid represents itself as a Hong Kong company, but it is registered 93 Mill Street, Qormi, Malta, apart from do- ing business in Singapore. The plaintiffs Brian Kang, Skyblock LLC, Mid-Wilshire Consulting LLC, Prasad Hur- ra, David Kim, Blue Rock Group, Artemio Verduzo, Da- vid Kwon, and Young Jae Kwon alleged that the defendants raised $50 million in digital to- kens, and later misappropriat- ed the money raised. The causes of action include securities fraud, negligent mis- representation, breach of con- tract, promissory fraud, unjust enrichment, fraudulent con- veyance, and the sale of unreg- istered securities. The allegation is that between January 2018 and 6 June 2018, the defendants offered and sold digital tokens and raised approximately $50 million from investors from around the world, including within the United States. However, the sale of the so- called Hybrid Tokens was nev- er registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and this deprived investors of the benefit of the disclosures required by the American securities laws. The plaintiffs said the De- fendants have yet to satisfy any of their commitments to inves- tors. "Defendants squandered and/or misappropriated, and purported to lose by theft, all or nearly all of the approximate- ly $50 million raised through their offer and sale of Hybrid Tokens. Defendants' offer and sale of Hybrid Tokens was, in actuality, a mere vessel for de- fendants' personal enrichment. This is precisely the sort of sce- nario the federal securities laws were enacted to prevent," the plaintiffs said. The defendants were accused of trying to avoid the reach of the federal securities laws by characterising the Hybrid To- ken as a 'utility token'. "Here, defendants' sale of Hybrid To- kens had all the hallmarks of a securities offering under the securities laws and was there- fore required to be registered with the SEC. No exemption to the registration requirement was available for Defendants' offer and sale," the plaintiffs said. Malta company in $50 million crypto fraud complaint Defendant: Olympic medallist Apolo Ohno