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The Securities Commissioner of the State of Texas has issued an Emergency Cease & Desist Order against My Crypto Mine and its principal.
The Securities Commissioner of the U.S. State of Texas has issued an Emergency Cease & Desist Order (C&D) against crypto investment firm My Crypto Mine and its principal Mark Steven Royer, published to the regulatorâs website Nov. 27.
The C&D claims that âsufficient evidence has been foundâ to substantiate that Royer, âacting on behalf of a white-collar criminal [Bruce Bise] and disbarred attorney [Samuel Mendez], offered tokens that are now nearly worthlessâ via a crypto investment scheme dubbed âBitQyk.â Â
The document does not disclose details surrounding Biseâs status as a âwhite collar criminal,â but states that Mendez was disbarred as an attorney after âcommitting acts of dishonesty and moral turpitude by misappropriating funds.â
In May 2017, Royer is alleged to have joined Bise and Mendez in encouraging investors who âmissed outâ on Bitcoin to invest in the bitqy token, then priced at $0.02, but promised to rise to as high as $3.00 âin the indefinite future.â In truth, the token shed 99 percent of its value by Nov. 11, 2018. Investors who purchased the token at the time of Royerâs offering thus âlost almost the entirety of their principal investment.â
At present, Royer is principal of âpurportedâ crypto trading and mining specialist My Crypto Mine. Without disclosing his previous affiliation with BitQyck, Bise and Mendez, Royer has instead claimed to investors that he has over thirty yearsâ experience in the IT sector and ten years of involvement in crypto, among other misleading material claims related to the My Crypto Mine itself.
My Crypto Mine, as per the C&D, is now âissuing a passive investment tied to cryptocurrency trading and mining that purports to provide guaranteed, lucrative returns.â
Neither the investments nor the dealers are registered with the Texan authorities; the respondents are further charged with disclosure failures â in regard to both business credentials and the concrete âpurportedâ mining operations of the firm. The firm also has not warned investors against any of the risks associated with crypto investments, such as the potential impact of government regulatory action that might impact crypto valuations in future, and other factors.
The charges thus pertain to violation of securities laws by offering illegal, unregistered securities, engagement in fraud, and public deception. The respondents have been ordered to cease and desist from selling securities in Texas and to cease and desist from acting as dealers or agents.
Earlier this month, the Texas State Securities Board issued an emergency C&D to an Australia-based cloud mining company for selling unregistered securities to Texas residents, the latest in its string of C&Ds against crypto-related firms this year.
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