The Texas State Securities Board accused a network of companies under the brand name “GS” and operating out of Germany of fraudulent activities “linked to digital assets, investments in a betting pool in a proprietary metaverse.” The company network is controlled by Josip Dortmund Heit.
As described by regulators on Nov. 16, respondents GS Partners, GS Smart Finance and GS Wealth allegedly conducted three rounds of metaverse property sales beginning in September 2021. At the time, investors were informed they could purchase scrips XLT or BNB chain tokens that represented ownership. of one square inch of a unit in the company’s G999 Tower metaverse, at 9.63 Tether (USDT) per coupon. However, the token quickly lost its value, to less than 0.0000049 USDT each on the PancakeSwap decentralized exchange, after respondents failed to reach their $175 million raise target for the offering.
“Defendants have not been registered with the Securities Commissioner as dealers or agents at any material time herein.”
Regulators allege that other investment products created by GSB, such as its Lydian World metaverse tokens, gold tokens, G999 coins, and Elemental certificates, also constituted unregistered securities offerings. The Texas State Securities Board has filed an emergency enforcement action for the GSB group of companies to cease and desist from such activities in the state.
On August 15, the Ontario Securities Commission issued a warning that GS Partners was not registered to do business in the Canadian province of Ontario. Securities regulators in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec also issued earlier warnings about the company.
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