Floyd Mayweather promoted ICO turns out to be a Scam

The SEC Arrested Co-founders of Centra Tech. Inc. Sohrab Sam Sharma and Robert Farkas. Who Masterminded a fraudulent ICO in which Centra offered and sold unregistered investments through a ”CTR Token”. They claimed to offer a debit card backed by Visa and MasterCard that would allow users to instantly convert hard-to-spend cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars or another legal tender. But in reality, Centra had no relationships with Visa or MasterCard. The SEC also alleges that to promote the ICO, Sharma and Farkas created Fictional executives with impressive biographies, posted false or misleading marketing materials to Centra’s website, and paid celebrities to tout the ICO on Social media such as Floyd Mayweather.

Centra co-founders arrested

Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said: ”We allege that Centra sold investors on the promise of new digital technologies by using a sophisticated marketing campaign to spin a web of lies about their supposed partnerships with legitimate businesses. As the complaint alleges, these and other claims were simply false.”

”As we allege, the defendants relied heavily on celebrity endorsements and social media to market their scheme.  Endorsements and glossy marketing materials are no substitute for the SEC’s registration and disclosure requirements as well as diligence by investors.”

The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, charges Sharma and Farkas with violating the anti.fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, the return of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties, as well as bars against Sharma and Farkas serving as public company officers or directors and from participating in any offering of digital or other securities. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against the two of them.

”This lawsuit, which for the most part, appears to repeat unfounded claims regarding Centra Tech., alleges that Centra Tech’s initial coin offering of Centra Tokens was an unregistered sale of securities. The plaintiff’s complaint attempts to mimic claims and allegations the Securities and Exchange Commission has lodged against other cryptos.

Floyd Mayweather promoting scam ICO project

The Centra ICO was notably promoted by Mayweather as well as music producer DJ Khaled prior to its completion. Though the timing is currently unclear, the original posts by Mayweather on Instagram and Facebook that promoted the sale more ap to have been deleted and a post on Instagram by DJ Khaled is also unavailable as of press time.