The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Rivetz Corp and its CEO, Steven K. Sprague, of offering $18 million in unregistered securities.
Founded in 2013, the Rivetz company has already been dissolved.
The company and its CEO are accused of making $18 million in ill-gotten gains as a result of unregistered securities offerings from more than 7,200 investors between July and September 2017.
In the filing submitted to the court, the SEC stated that RvT was sold by promoting it to investors as a good investment opportunity, but at the time of the sale, RvT was not registered with the SEC as a security.
Investors purchased the RvT token using Ether. Later, Rivetz and CEO Sprague liquidated these Ethers through the company, the SEC claimed. The SEC claimed that some of these liquidated proceeds were used to purchase a home in the Cayman Islands, as well as a $1 million bonus and a $2.5 million loan, to the founder of the company.
If the SEC is ultimately proved right, it seeks the return of ill-gotten gains, pre-trial interest and a fine.
The SEC has also filed a criminal complaint against some tokens in the past years, claiming that they are illegal. RvT also made its mark among the tokens accepted as securities by the SEC.