March 28, 2024

Telegram employees sold Gram tokens under the guise of securities

Telegram employees sold Gram tokens under the guise of securities

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Presents New Evidence in Illegal Trading Casesecurities by the Telegram messenger during the ICO of Gram tokens.

SEC statement filed with district courtNew York, it is indicated that Telegram employees sold coins under the guise of securities. As evidence, the agency cites the correspondence of the messenger workers with investors:

  1. On March 6, 2019, Shyam Pareh wrote an email to ICO participant Gram, in which he said that "the fund has the right to receive securities" and "securities will not be allowedto pledge it";
  2. Parekh drew an analogy with the traditional financial market, stating that "a client who acceptsParticipation in an earlier round of investment attraction can purchase the asset at a discount, but in this case, they are validtighter restrictions on access to shares" (you will have to wait longer to receive coins), according to officials, the specialistTelegram compared the TON blockchain staking protocol to stock lending;
  3. An advisor to Blackmoon Financial Group told Perekopsky, an employee of the messenger, that "the process of stabilizing the value of an asset is a common practice in the public initial public offering (IPO) market, which is actively used in the cryptocurrency market during trading of digital assets on exchanges."

In an official announcement published inTelegram Blog, states that Gram tokens are notinvestment product, so traders should not rely on profit from trading or storing coins. Representatives of the messenger argue that Gram does not provide the right to own Telegram shares, does not bring dividends and does not provide an opportunity to participate in the process of managing the enterprise. Thus, the messenger management does not admit guilt in violation of the law governing the sale of securities, as tokens are not included in this category of financial instruments.