The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges with Mango Markets on Friday.
Mango Markets settled without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings and agreed to “destroy their MNGO tokens, to request the removal of MNGO tokens from trading platforms, and to refrain from soliciting any trading platform to allow trading in or offering or selling MNGO.”
The SEC accused Mango of the unregistered offering of MNGO and also claimed that it — alongside Blockworks Foundation — operated as an unregistered broker.
Read more:DAO behind Mango Markets votes for SEC settlement
“According to the SEC’s complaint, starting in August 2021, Mango DAO, a purportedly decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, and Blockworks Foundation, a Panamanian entity, raised more than $70 million from unregistered offers and sales of MNGO tokens, the so-called governance tokens of the Mango Markets platform, to hundreds of investors worldwide, including in the US,” the SEC said.
The Blockworks Foundation, according to Mango Markets documents, is a non-profit incorporated in Panama. It is not linked to Blockworks, the New York-based media and research company.
The two entities will also pay $700,000 in civil penalties.
“Since the inception of our crypto enforcement program, our view has been that the label ‘DAO’ does not change the reality of who is behind a project, what activities they engage in, or whether their activities need to be registered. Nor does engaging in intermediation of securities with the aid of automated or open source software change the nature of such activities,” said the SEC’s Jorge G. Tenreiro.
Mango Markets is also currently nearing a settlement offer with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to a proposal from the DAO.
Earlier this year, Avraham Eisenberg was convicted following a trial related to his 2022 trades on Mango Markets. He was accused of manipulating Mango Markets futures contracts.
Eisenberg, who was charged with wire fraud, commodities fraud and commodities manipulation, is seeking a new trial or acquittal.
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