All that glitters isn’t gold in Kent Swig’s adventures in cryptocurrency venture, which is facing more problems due to a lawsuit targeting top executive Stephen Braverman.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Braverman, accusing him of perpetrating a pump-and-dump scheme for a cryptocurrency predating his partnership with Swig, Insider reported. Swig is not accused of wrongdoing in the lawsuit, which was filed on Sep. 30 in the Southern District of Florida.
Braverman co-created Dig, a coin backed by gold, according to the SEC civil suit. He and three others sold $36.8 million worth of coins to retail investors; the SEC claims it was “highly unlikely” the gold upholding that value ever existed.
The SEC is looking to compel Braverman and the co-conspirators to repay the alleged fraud victims, as well as interest and other penalties. They could also be banned from acting as corporate officers or directors, which would force Braverman’s removal as CEO and president of Dignity Gold, which mints Swig’s Digau coins.
Swig told Insider that Braverman was “defending himself vigorously against these baseless allegations” and seeking to have the case dismissed.
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The spokesperson told Insider Swig was not involved in the creation of the Dig coin and the two are “unrelated,” but the investor previously told the outlet his firm would provide free tokens to holders of Braverman’s coin.
The suit is the latest headache for Swig’s Dignity Gold.
Investment firm Lincoln International this summer sued Swig and his firm, Helmsley Spear, over unpaid rent for a subtenant space at 444 Madison Avenue. Swig is being sued because he personally guaranteed the office rent for 15,000 square feet, where Dignity Gold is one of the occupants.
Swig launched his cryptocurrency venture in April 2021, announcing his Digau coin would be tied to gold (just like the Dig coin Braverman is being sued about). Swig’s firm said it would be able to extract gold from mines in Arizona, California and Nevada with the assistance of Apache Mill Tailings.
However, Questions emerged almost immediately about the venture and issues linked to the mining firm. Dignity Gold claimed in April that it had secured mining rights for 80 acres with a purported $214 billion in gold, silver, platinum and “rare earth elements” waiting to be discovered.
Almost two years into the venture, Dignity Gold has yet to start mining, though a spokesperson for Swig told Insider the filings of full geological surveys of the undisclosed mining sites with the SEC was coming in the next two to three months.
— Holden Walter-Warner