On July 30, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in partnership with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, revealed charges against Nader Al-Naji, the founder of BitClout.
The complaint filed by the SEC claimed that Al-Naji unlawfully sold $257 million in unregistered securities using BitClout’s native token, BTCLT, and deceived investors by misusing a portion of the funds.
In addition, the SEC included Decentralized Social (DeSo), Al-Naji’s new project, in the complaint and corresponding press release.
The complaint specifically alleged that Al-Naji used $7 million of customer funds for personal luxury expenses, such as renting a mansion in Beverly Hills and giving large cash gifts to family members, despite assuring investors that no funds would be used as compensation for any members of the BitClout team.
