On Friday, a Quebec Court ordered the founder of an illegal ICO, Dominic Lacroix, to transfer $3.7 million worth of Bitcoin during a Court hearing and threatened him with incarceration if he did not immediately do so. Lacroix created the Plexcoin ICO which is the subject of an enforcement action by the SEC. According to the SEC, Plexcoin raised over $15 million from investors on the basis of alleged fraudulent misrepresentations to American residents. The ICO is illegal in the US and no decision has been rendered as to its legality or not in Canada. That’s because no court in Canada has determined Bitcoin is money and a provincial government has formally opined in respect of that.
The SEC, together with the Quebec securities regulator, AMF, obtained asset orders against Lacroix and his wife and sought to enforce them. In Court, Lacroix testified that he could not transfer Bitcoin because the process was relatively complicated. Obviously, not the least bit true. The Court refused to believe Lacroix’s testimony in respect of the alleged difficulty of transferring Bitcoin and he was ordered to do so or go to jail. Lacroix conducted the transfer, sending 420 Bitcoin to the wallet of the person in charge of managing forfeited assets.
The Plexcoin website is here with a notice on it that credit cart (sic) transactions will allegedly be refunded for persons from Quebec who bought into the ICO using a credit card. Lacroix has already been in jail for two months for contempt of Court for failing to comply with Court orders.