The SEC filed a lawsuit against Green United, accusing the company of defrauding investors of $18 million and covertly purchasing equipment for mining crypto assets that does not meet the specifications stated in the project.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint with the Utah District Court, in which it stated that the administration of Green United, using deliberately false promises, misled potential investors, promising them income from the placement of crypto assets in the amount of 40% up to 50%.

To participate in the allegedly profitable investment activity, each of the potential investors was invited to contribute at least $3,000 for the joint purchase of special equipment for environmentally friendly mining of Green tokens. To make their proposal more convincing, the Green United team stated that in this way investors would not only have a highly profitable product at their disposal, but also eliminate the risks associated with the ban on the mining of cryptoassets with a carbon footprint, introduced in a number of US states.

Investors were also told that the success of their investment depended on how fully Green United could retain control of its green mining farms, which would be hosted in data centers and controlled remotely by the company. To create the illusion of successful project activity, the Green United administration issued the Green token on the Ethereum blockchain, which was periodically distributed among investors, allegedly as a result of “green” mining.

The SEC claims that the real intention of Green United was to deceive investors and at their expense acquire specialized Bitmain Antminer S9 ASIC miners for their own purposes, passing them off as green mining equipment. According to the regulator, Green United fraudulently raised at least $18 million for these purposes and did not distribute the crypto assets mined by the equipment among investors.

In February, the Hong Kong authorities announced the issuance of tokenized “green bonds” for 800 million Hong Kong dollars ($101.9 million). It is the world’s first “green debt” issued by a government, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said.