Former Grand Bend Businessman Faces Trial in Alleged Crypto Scheme

A trial date has been set in Florida for Troy Hogg, a former Grand Bend businessperson, accused by the US securities regulator of involvement in a multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency scheme.

The trial, scheduled for June 17 at 9 a.m. in Miami’s U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of Florida, will handle civil fees introduced by the Securities and Change Fee (SEC) in opposition to Hogg, his firm Cryptobontix, and 5 different defendants.

Forward of the trial, a deadline of March 22 has been set for all discoveries, a pre-trial course of the place either side trade details about witnesses and proof. The SEC alleges that Hogg and the opposite defendants violated varied U.S. securities legal guidelines, together with promoting unregistered securities and fascinating in securities fraud.

In keeping with the regulator, between Could 2018 and January 2019, Hogg and his associates made deceptive statements to traders a couple of cryptocurrency asset referred to as Dignity, claiming it was backed by gold. The SEC contends that their actions resembled a traditional pump and dump scheme, the place the worth of an funding is artificially inflated by misleading techniques, solely to be bought off at a revenue, leading to losses for different traders.

The authorized proceedings initiated by the SEC in September 2022 coincide with fees introduced by the Ontario Securities Fee (OSC) in opposition to Hogg on the identical day. The OSC accused Hogg and his corporations of fraudulent actions associated to the providing of the Dignity coin, which allegedly raised roughly US $51 million between Could 2017 and June 2019.

Throughout hearings in November and December, OSC counsel introduced their case in opposition to Hogg, alleging his involvement in creating the cryptocurrency token central to the scheme. Regardless of the allegations, Hogg declined to take part within the proceedings.

As a part of its investigation, the securities regulator froze and liquidated property, together with the Colonial Lodge, previously owned by Hogg. Penalties for violations of Ontario securities regulation could embody everlasting bans on promoting securities, restitution of illegally obtained funds, and hefty fines.

Whereas the authorized battles proceed for Hogg, a call from the capital markets tribunal on the OSC fees is pending, with potential penalties that would form the result of his ongoing authorized ordeal.