SEC wins $5.5 million default judgment over alleged fake crypto platform NanoBit
CoinDesk 2026-06-30 09:54:50
Context: A US federal judge has ordered a $5.5 million default judgment against NanoBit Limited and five related defendants for operating a "pig-butchering" crypto scam that deceived 18 investors with fake trading dashboards. The scam, which ran from September 2023 to June 2024, involved building trust with investors through WhatsApp groups before misappropriating their funds. The defendants, who never appeared in court, were found to have misused investor funds for their own gain.
Key Facts
- The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered $5,518,902 in combined disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties on June 16, with NanoBit Limited facing the largest share of over $532,000 in disgorgement, nearly $82,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $1.1 million civil penalty.
- The SEC alleged that scheme participants posed as financial-industry professionals in WhatsApp groups, built trust with investors, and then directed them to deposit funds into NanoBit, with at least 18 investors losing nearly $1 million in crypto and fiat currency.
- Investor funds were not used to trade, but rather went to bank accounts in Hong Kong, with participants wiring more than $2 million offshore and misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in investors' crypto assets.
- The defendants, including NanoBit Limited, Radiant Horizons Limited, Sweet Karma Fashion Inc., Zhao Tropical Deli Inc., Jiajie Liu, and Hua Zhao, were permanently barred from securities offerings and must pay penalties within 30 days.
- The SEC filed the original complaint in September 2024 alongside a parallel action targeting another fake platform, CoinW6, framing both as among its first enforcement actions against relationship-investment scams involving fake crypto platforms.