SEC charges Donald Basile in $16M crypto fraud tied to ‘insured’ token

The SEC has sued crypto executive Donald Basile over an alleged $16 million scheme involving false claims about an “insured” Bitcoin Latinum token.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against crypto executive Donald Basile, accusing him and two companies he controlled of raising about $16 million from investors through false claims tied to a so-called “insured” crypto token known as Bitcoin Latinum.

In a complaint filed Friday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC alleged that Basile ran the scheme between March and December 2021 through Monsoon Blockchain Corp. and GIBF GP Inc., offering investors Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) that promised future delivery of the token, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Regulators said hundreds of investors were told the asset was backed and insured, but the SEC alleged no insurance company ever provided coverage or any proof that these claims were true, per the report.

Read more