Telegram, a company founded in Russia by Pavel and Nikolai Durov and currently based in Berlin, will public the bank records that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States believes it will demonstrate misconduct in token offering – “Gram,” worth 1.7 billion dollars.
The story of SEC and Telegram
The story of the US regulator and the messenger service started seriously on Oct 11, when the SEC filed an emergency action requesting to cease activity in the Telegram’s token offering.
The SEC described the sale of Gram tokens as an unregistered securities offering. On the other hand, Telegram argued that it qualified under the exemptions of Regulation D to the requirement to register as such an offering.
According to Jan 13 filing with the court of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Telegram will have until Feb 26 to furnish the court with bank records which the court denied the SEC in an earlier ruling that was based on privacy issues.
With new evidence appears, SEC requires bank data
The ruling today will allow Telegram to write the information provided to the court following with foreign privacy regulations. According to a letter to the defense attorneys’ court, Telegram will provide The SEC with these full bank records on Jan 15, only by drafting them before submitting them to the public record.
Telegram’s lawyers have agreed to provide the SEC with bank records in full, as well as the public will have access to drafted versions means that all eyes will be on the next SEC movement as a bellwether of what they find or not find in the new documents.
Moreover, Philip Moustaki, an attorney for Seward and Kissel and a former senior advisor at the SEC, shared that SEC will be on alert to look for evidence of Telegram about not exercised reasonable care to ensure that purchasers were not acting as underwriters.
Bank records of Telegram
As reported before, the SDNY denied the original request for information from the SEC in early Jan, however, did so “without prejudice,” leaving the subject open for further discussion.
Additionally, on Jan 10, the SEC presented invoices of alleged underwriters of the sale of Gram tokens by Telegram that the SEC believes prove offering of Gram tokens after its approved deadline.
Presently, SEC has been examining opportunities to adapt its Reg. D, which depends on making offers to “accredited investors” only who by the logic of US securities law, does not require the same degree of regulatory protection as the main street investors. In spite of this ongoing review, the commission has persisted in identifying Telegram’s offering as security offerings, which means that the case will continue.
Read more:
- Telegram: The SEC’s Requests Cover 770 Individuals Or Entities In Over 12 Countries
- SEC Requests UK Intervention In Telegram GRAM Court Case