SEC charges team behind the $45 million Coindeal crypto fraud

• The U.S. SEC has charged the team behind Coindeal.
• The SEC has also charged AEO Publishing Inc., Banner Co-Op Inc., and Bannersgo LLC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States has charged the team behind Coindeal, which turned out to be a $45 million fraudulent crypto investment scheme.

The defendants, according to the regulator, falsely claimed that Coindeal would generate investment returns greater than 500,000 times for investors.

In connection with the $45 million fraud, the SEC has charged the creator of the crypto investment scheme Coindeal, and seven others. Coindeal raised more than $45 million from unregistered securities sales to tens of thousands of investors around the world.

According to the SEC, the creators and promoters of Coindeal falsely claimed that investors could generate extravagant returns by investing in the eponymous blockchain technology, which would be sold for trillions of dollars to a group of prominent and wealthy buyers.

As per the SEC, no Coindeal sale ever took place, and no distributions were made to the investors. The defendants collectively misappropriated millions of dollars in investor funds for personal use, and one of them purchased cars, real estate, and a boat with investor funds, according to the SEC.

The SEC has also charged AEO Publishing Inc., Banner Co-Op Inc., and Bannersgo LLC with being involved with the fraudulent crypto investment scheme.

Investors promised investment returns of more than 500,000 times

In this regard, Daniel Gregus, Director of, the Chicago Regional Office, SEC said,

“We allege the defendants falsely claimed access to valuable blockchain technology and that the imminent sale of the technology would generate investment returns of more than 500,000 times for investors… As alleged in our complaint, in reality, this was all just an elaborate scheme where the defendants enriched themselves while defrauding tens of thousands of retail investors.”

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had already indicted one of the defendants on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of monetary transaction in unlawful proceeds in June 2022 due to his involvement with the Coindeal crypto fraud scheme.