- META 1, the crypto scam whose founders claim to be creating a “coin for humanity”, are still scamming investors despite an SEC ban
- The SEC ordered META 1 to cease and desist in March 2020 after conning millions out of ICO investors
- META 1 founders claim they are above the law and have created a crypto exchange with no withdrawal feature
Just when we thought we’d seen the last of the ever-laughable META 1, back they come like a turd you just can’t flush. We last covered our favorite crypto scam in February to discuss the founders’ default loss to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its fraudulent ICO, which has left the SEC still trying to get to the bottom of the scam and see exactly how much to order Robert Dunlap and co to pay back to investors. However, since launching their own online legal courses (no, really), the META 1 team has seemingly brought the project back from the dead, likely in an attempt to squeeze every penny they can out of the public before the SEC comes knocking.
A “Coin for Humanity” Based on Lies
The SEC first investigated META 1 in 2020, issuing an emergency block on the ICO due to its fraudulent nature. We have covered META 1 ever since due to its ludicrous claims and pretenses, like being a “coin for humanity”, being backed by billions of dollars in fine art and gold, and the fact that the META 1 blockchain is the fastest in the world.
The SEC was granted a default win in February after META 1 failed to contest the case, since when the SEC has been busy trying to find out exactly how much they scammed ICO investors out of while META 1 themselves have been busy trying to keep their ship afloat long enough to scam more money out of innocent people.
META 1 Exchange Has “No Withdraw Function”
SEC filings since the judgement confirm what was suspected, that META 1 continues to “accept investor funds and funnel them to sources unrelated to the purpose of the offering”. They finally launched their much-hyped exchange but only for their META 1 coin and which, the SEC says, “appears to have no withdraw function”. Handy for stealing people’s money.
The SEC also ordered META 1 to take down their website but is still there, albeit now out of the SEC’s jurisdiction, hence why it is still active. Dunlap and his team are also happily flouting the SEC ruling by promoting META 1 on social media and through a series of podcasts. META 1 also continues to update its users on the latest developments, claiming in a recent newsletter than it “operates within a private trust in a “Private Jurisdiction.”” This makes it apparently above the law, meaning that META 1 can operate “without the interference” of government agencies. No, it just ignores them. As if this wasn’t stupid enough, Dunlap has also claimed recently that the amount of gold and “other assets” backing the META 1 coin has risen from $2 billion at the time of the ICO to staggering $8.8 billion today.
SEC Finding it Hard to Quantify Damages
The SEC are now in a battle to quantify exactly how much money META 1 has purloined from investors, a number that is increasing all the time. It has admitted that this is “tedious and time-consuming”, although it did agree to a disgorgement of $7.6 million with META 1 Trust founder Peter K. Shamoon. However, Shamoon has missed the deadline for the first payment, perhaps unsurprisingly, leading to the SEC now taking action to take it from him.
In its latest update, posted Thursday, the SEC told the court that it would report back with its latest findings within 90 days, by which time they will hopefully be afforded the means to put an end to META 1 once and for all before they can rip anyone else off.
