(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it has obtained a final judgment in a district court action against Eran Eyal, the founder and former chief executive officer of UnitedData, Inc. d/b/a/ Shopin, for conducting an allegedly fraudulent ICO. According to the SEC’s complaint, filed December 11, 2019, Shopin and Eyal fraudulently raised $42.5 million worth of virtual currency from the unregistered sales of securities called Shopin tokens based on a series of false and misleading statements to potential and actual investors, including misrepresentations about purported successful pilots of the Shopin application.

On June 19, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment against Eyal. Without admitting or denying the allegations of the SEC’s complaint, Eyal consented to the entry of the order, which enjoins him from future violations of the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, bars him from acting as an officer or director of a public company, enjoins him from engaging in any offering of digital asset securities, and orders him to disgorge $422,100 in ill-gotten gains plus $34,940 in prejudgment interest, which is deemed satisfied by Eyal’s payment of approximately 3,105.78 Ether tokens pursuant to a prior plea agreement in a New York State criminal action that addressed conduct including the acts at issue in the SEC’s action. The SEC voluntarily dismissed its claim against Shopin.