SEC Sues Unicoin, Executives for $100M Crypto Fraud Scheme
On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Unicoin, Inc., a New York City-based company, and three of its top executives—Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin, former President and current board member Silvina Moschini, and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez—for allegedly making false and misleading statements in connection with an offering of certificates tied to crypto assets called Unicoin tokens and the sale of Unicoin, Inc.’s common stock. The SEC also charged Unicoin’s general counsel, Richard Devlin, for related violations.
According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Unicoin and its executives raised over $100 million from more than 5,000 investors through deceptive marketing practices. The company promoted its rights certificates, which purportedly granted investors future access to Unicoin tokens, through widespread advertising campaigns. These campaigns included ads in major airports, on thousands of New York City taxis, and across television and social media platforms.
The SEC alleges that Unicoin and its executives misled investors with several false claims about the rights certificates and tokens. They represented the tokens as being backed by billions of dollars in real estate and equity stakes in pre-IPO companies, when, in reality, the company’s assets were worth only a small fraction of that amount.
Additionally, Unicoin claimed to have sold over $3 billion in rights certificates, while the actual amount raised was no more than $110 million. The company also falsely stated that its rights certificates and tokens were registered with the SEC or otherwise U.S.-registered, which they were not.
The complaint further alleges that Unicoin and Konanykhin violated federal securities laws by conducting unregistered offers and sales of the rights certificates. Konanykhin is accused of personally selling over 37.9 million of his own rights certificates, offering discounted pricing and targeting investors who were excluded from participating to maintain the company’s exemption from registration requirements.
The SEC charged Unicoin, Konanykhin, Moschini, and Dominguez with violating antifraud provisions of federal securities laws. Konanykhin and Unicoin face additional charges for violating registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, with Konanykhin also named as a control person for certain of Unicoin’s antifraud violations.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of profits with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and officer-and-director bars against Konanykhin, Moschini, and Dominguez.
Additionally, the SEC charged Richard Devlin with violating antifraud provisions by negligently including misstatements in private placement memoranda used to offer and sell the rights certificates and Unicoin’s common stock. Devlin has agreed to a final judgment, without admitting or denying the allegations, which includes permanent injunctive relief and a $37,500 civil penalty.
