A corporate watchdog raided a Gold Coast crypto miner for promoting unlicensed crypto products and encouraging investors to put their superannuation into them, amid fears that $62 million could disappear.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission secured Federal Court orders to appoint insolvency firm McGrathNicol as receivers for NGS’s digital assets, claiming this move was the best way to protect assets deemed “at risk of dissipation.”
Over 450 Australians invested approximately $US41 million ($62 million) in blockchain mining products offered by NGS Crypto, a company that ASIC claims provided financial advice without the necessary licence.
ASIC asserts that the NGS group of companies encouraged Australians to transfer funds from regulated superannuation to self-managed super funds to invest in blockchain mining packages with fixed-rate returns.
Notably, two directors from the NGS group of companies had prior involvement in defunct investment companies, with one of the businesses collapsing while the directors owed $500,000 due to personal withdrawals and intercompany loans to their related entities.
McGrathNicol has taken over as receiver-manager of the digital assets for NGS Crypto, NGS Digital, and NGS Group. The companies are based in Hong Kong, with Brett Mendham, Ryan Brown, and Mark Ten Caten serving as the sole directors of each, respectively.
ASIC obtained court orders preventing Mr. Mendham from leaving Australia while also suppressing the news until McGrathNicol secured control over NGS’s digital assets.
The court instructed the companies and their directors to turn over all documentation, including passwords and credentials, related to digital currency assets.
The court further ordered that the companies and directors must not move any cryptocurrency offshore or sell digital assets.
While NGS and its directors are allowed to pay out Australian investors in their blockchain products, they are barred from advertising, promoting, or conducting any financial services in Australia.
News source: AFR
