Michael Alan Stollery, 54, founder and CEO of the purported crypto investment platform Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc. (TBIS), pleaded guilty for his role in a crypto fraud scheme involving TBIS’s initial coin offering (ICO) that raised approximately $21 million from investors in the U.S. and overseas. Stollery offered its crypto token “BAR” in the ICO with false and misleading statements and did not register the ICO with the U.S. SEC, nor did he have a valid exemption from the SEC’s registration requirements.
The Case In A Nutshell
Michael Alan Stollery admitted that to entice investors, he falsified aspects of TBIS’s white papers, which purportedly offered investors and prospective investors an explanation of the cryptocurrency investment offering, including the purpose and technology behind the offering, how the offering was different from other cryptocurrency opportunities, and the prospects for the offering’s profitability.
Stollery also published fake client testimonials on TBIS’s website and falsely claimed that he had business relationships with the Federal Reserve and dozens of prominent companies to create a false appearance of legitimacy. Stollery further admitted that he did not use the invested money as promised but instead commingled the ICO investors’ funds with his personal funds, using at least a portion of the offering proceeds for expenses unrelated to TBIS, such as credit card payments and the payment of bills for Stollery’s Hawaii condominium.
Guilty Plea And Sentencing
Michael Alen Stollery pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18 and faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
