The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims Telegram sold Gram tokens after completing its ICO, court documents show.
According to invoices submitted by the SEC, Da Vinci Capital sold more than $2M in Gram tokens to a fund managed by its holding company, ITI Funds, on June 20, 2018. Gem Limited sold €7.8M ($8.6M) in Grams to a company called Goliath Solutions and $4.5M to Space Investments Limited on July 2, 2018.
"These documents undermine Telegram’s claimed affirmative defense that the Offering was exempt under Regulation D. First, Telegram either raised more than the $1.7 billion for which it claimed an exemption, or it did not raise $1.7 billion as of March 29, 2018 and the later funds may have been raised through underwriters."
The SEC claims that, under Regulation D, the issuer must take reasonable steps in order to ensure that buyers do not act as statutory underwriters (i.e., do not sell securities for the issuer for commissions).
In this case, the regulator claims the companies that invoiced Telegram did exactly that.
The SEC temporarily suspended Telegram's ICO in October 2019.
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