“American Bitcoin Academy Founder Resolves $1.2M SEC Fraud Charges” – Decrypt

Yet another SEC lawsuit related to digital assets has emerged today.

According to the announcement from the top regulator on Wall Street, a U.S. crypto entrepreneur has agreed to settle fraud charges related to an online course he promoted called “American Bitcoin Academy.”

The SEC accused Brian Sewell and his company, Rockwell Capital Management, of targeting students to invest in an AI-powered crypto hedge fund for profit. After receiving $1.2 million from 15 students, Sewell and his company held onto the cash in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) and failed to launch the fund.

Subsequently, the BTC was reportedly stolen in a hack, resulting in all of the invested cash disappearing. The SEC complaint alleged that Sewell “converted and held investors’ funds in Bitcoin, and then he lost it all when the crypto asset wallet he used to hold those assets was hacked and looted.” Furthermore, it was alleged that Sewell concealed the hack and losses from the victim investors to prevent the fraud from unraveling.

While Sewell has agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the allegations, Rockwell Capital Management agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $1,602,089, and Sewell agreed to a civil penalty of $223,229.

Gurbir S. Grewal, the Director of the SEC’s enforcement division, stated, “We allege that Sewell defrauded students in his online American Bitcoin Academy of over a million dollars through a series of lies about investment opportunities in his purported crypto hedge fund.” He also warned that the SEC will continue to hold accountable those who claim to use attention-grabbing technologies to attract and defraud investors, regardless of the specific industry or technology being utilized.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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