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SEC Wins $1.1M After Crypto Conman Vanishes

A Georgia judge just dropped the hammer on a crypto scammer who didn’t show up to court.

Keith Crews was accused by the SEC in 2023 of running a shady crypto scheme. When he failed to respond, the judge gave the SEC a default win on June 3.

Crews now owes over $1.1 million. That includes $530K in illegal profits, $51K in interest, and another $530K in penalties.

He’s also banned from ever playing in the securities sandbox again.

Fake Coins, Fake Labs, Real Trouble
Crews sold a made-up crypto called “Stemy Coin” between 2019 and 2021. He raised over $800K from 200 people—mostly through church and Black communities.

He said Stemy Coin was backed by stem cell tech and even gold. He claimed his companies had labs, products, and a medical track record.

Spoiler: They didn’t.

The SEC found there were no labs, no tech, and no real partners. Just smoke, mirrors, and bad intentions.

Legal Beatdown
The court ruled Crews broke multiple securities laws. These include rules from the Securities Act and the Exchange Act.

This case is one of the SEC’s rare W’s in the crypto world lately, as many enforcement actions have been slowing down.

(footing: Default judgment = when a defendant doesn’t show up to court and loses automatically. Disgorgement = giving up ill-gotten gains.)

What do you think?

Written by 365int

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