Israel Securities Authority Files Complaint Against Crypto Mining Firm For Misleading Investors

Crime, News | February 5, 2019 By:

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has filed a complaint against Oded Rozenberg and his solar energy company Apollo Power for misleading crypto investors.

On December 18, 2018, Tel Aviv-listed Apollo Power reported the completion of a successful experiment using solar power for crypto mining. In the report, the company indicated that the experiment constituted a technological breakthrough, adding that it had filed for a patent in the US for a modular solar system containing a built-in crypto mining component. After the announcement, the company’s stock went from $10.7 million in value to $14.9 million.

A few hours before that day’s market close, Apollo Power filed a second report after the ISA asked for further clarification on this “technological breakthrough” that would energize cryptocurrency mining. In the second report, the company divulged that it had conducted the 30-minute experiment three days earlier and that the company was able to mine 0.00054 ethereum, equivalent to 4 cents given the exchange rates at the time. With the same capacity, Apollo stated it can potentially mine $130-worth of ethereum coins a year. The firm also stated that the power generated by the solar unit was not enough to mine bitcoins. Following its clarification, the company’s stock fell by almost 32%.

Eli Buchris, one of a group of investors who acted quickly to purchase Apollo Power stock following the company’s first report, said that the second report showed the first report was “partial, misleading, false, deceitful, and at the very least negligent.” He claims that the company caused major financial damage to him and other investors, valued at many millions of shekels.

Yom-Tov Samia, chairman of Apollo Power, told local news outlet Calcalist that he is not familiar with the report, and cannot comment on the matter as he was appointed to the position after the aforementioned happenings.