ICO Telegram organizers used the services of BNY Mellon and Credit Suisse banks

Documents filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the District Court of New York state thatICO Telegram organizers used the services of BNY Mellon and Credit Suisse banks.

SEC accuses Telegram of tradingunregistered securities during the Gram cryptocurrency ICO. On December 9, the commissioners provided information describing the transaction process for the purchase of digital assets. According to the agency, Telegram employee Shyam Parekh told a potential investor that the funds should be transferred to the Swiss company Credit Suisse, which, in turn, will redirect the money to the Telegram account opened with BNY Mellon.

Representatives of BNY Mellon and Credit Suisserefused to comment on information about cooperation with Telegram. However, both enterprises are developing business in the field of blockchain. In April, BNY Mellon entered into a partnership agreement with the cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt, and Credit Suisse organized a symposium on virtual currencies, which took place in New York in November 2019. It is also worth noting that the organizations are part of the Fnality consortium, which is developing a “single settlement coin”.

Thanks to the data transmitted by the SEC, they became knownSome Gram cryptocurrency investors. In particular, the American fund Kleiner Perkins purchased coins for $ 30 million, the Chinese venture company Lightspeed China invested $ 25 million in the project, and the FBG Capital blockchain startup acquired digital assets for $ 10 million.

Several private investors have gained access toICO through the Californian fund Elysium Ventures. They included: the creator of the WordPress system Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of the social network Foursquare Navin Selvadurai and the director of the Yelp search engine Jeremy Stoppelman. In total, the Elysium fund bought Gram for $12 million. Former Telegram chief investment advisor John Hyman reported that the Telegram Open Network (TON) project also received funding from residents of the CIS, Israel and “fans of Pavel Durov.”

On December 6, the SEC filed a petition with the court askingbring the High Court of England and Wales to trial to obtain testimony from Hyman and documents relating to the Gram presale. The hearing of the SEC lawsuit against Telegram is scheduled for February 18 and 19. The court will be attended by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, messenger vice president Ilya Perekopsky and director of the investor relations department Shiam Parekh.