The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges against the "clandestine founder of a purported bitcoin platform and a chain of co-working spaces located in former bars and restaurants," according to an announcement. The SEC alleges that Renwick Haddow, a U.K. citizen living in New York, bilked investors in both companies while hiding his connection given his checkered past with regulators in the U.K.
According to the SEC, Haddow created a broker-dealer and did not register the firm with the SEC as required under the federal securities laws. Haddow allegedly used sales representatives to cold call potential investors and sell securities in Bitcoin Store Inc. and Bar Works Inc.
According to the SEC's complaint, offering materials presented to investors in both companies touted the backgrounds of senior executives who do not appear to exist. The materials also misrepresented other key facts about both companies' operations.
"As alleged in our complaint, Haddow created two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly qualified executives were leading them to quick profitability. In reality, Haddow controlled the companies from behind the scenes and they were far from profitable," Andrew M. Calamari, director of the SEC's New York Regional Office, said in a statement.
Haddow allegedly diverted more than 80% of the funds raised by the broker-dealer for the Bitcoin Store, and sent more than $4 million from the Bar Works bank accounts to one or more accounts in Mauritius and $1 million to one or more accounts in Morocco.
The SEC alleges that materials provided to Bitcoin Store investors claimed it was "an easy-to-use and secure way of holding and trading bitcoin" and had generated several million dollars in gross sales. In fact, the SEC alleges that Bitcoin Store has never had any operations nor generated the gross sales it touted.
According to the SEC's complaint, Bar Works claimed to bring "real vibrancy to the flexible working scene by adding full-service workspaces to former bar and restaurant premises in central city locations." Bar Works primarily sold leases coupled with subleases that together functioned like investment notes. The company also allegedly sold leases for more workspaces than actually existed in at least two locations. Among false claims made to investors, who invested more than $37 million in the Bar Works scheme, were that a location was profitable within months of opening and that Bar Works had engaged an auditor.
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against Haddow.
The SEC has obtained an emergency asset freeze against all defendants and relief defendants in the case.
SEC Charges Real Estate Agent With Selling Unregistered Notes in Brother's Ponzi Scheme
The SEC announced charges against Cheryl L. Jones, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate agent and the sister of convicted Ponzi scheme operator Mark A. Jones, for selling unregistered securities.
The SEC's complaint alleges that Cheryl Jones recruited many of her friends and associates to invest in unregistered promissory notes and personal guarantees that Mark Jones issued in connection with his Ponzi scheme.
Mark Jones allegedly claimed that investors' money would be pooled to provide short-term "bridge loans" to Jamaican companies that had supposedly been approved for commercial bank loans but needed interim financing until their bank loan funding came through. Instead, he deposited the investors' money in his personal bank account and diverted almost all of it for personal expenses and to make "Ponzi" payments to other investors.
The complaint further alleges that between 2007 and 2015, Cheryl Jones was wrongfully enriched when she received payments from her brother totaling approximately $515,000 more than her approximately $876,000 investment in the Bridge Fund. Other investors lost substantial portions of their investments.
The SEC seeks a permanent injunction against Cheryl Jones, disgorgement of her ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty.
Cheryl Jones' brother, Mark Jones, pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from his operation of the Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to 70 months in prison. The SEC charged Jones with securities fraud and obtained a default judgment.
