SEC Wins $5.4M Judgment in NanoBit Crypto Fraud Case
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- SEC won its fraud case against NanoBit Limited after the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a final judgment on June 16 against four entities and two individuals, ordering roughly $5.4 million in combined fines, disgorgement, and prejudgment interest.
- NanoBit operators allegedly impersonated financial professionals in WhatsApp groups, solicited at least 18 investors on social media, and showed them a fake dashboard depicting rising returns while more than $2 million was wired to bank accounts in Hong Kong.
- NanoBit Limited was ordered to pay a $1.18 million fine plus $532,000 in disgorgement and roughly $81,200 in prejudgment interest, while affiliates Radiant Horizons, Sweet Karma, and Zhao Deli were each hit with $1.18 million fines and orchestrator Jiajie Liu was ordered to pay about $120,000.
- Investors who tried to withdraw funds were met with excuses and additional fees, while those questioning the platform's legitimacy were removed from the WhatsApp groups, according to the SEC's September 2024 complaint.
- The case fits the SEC's broader crypto enforcement pattern under the Trump administration — the agency charged a Texas man on May 29 with a $12 million AI-trading-bot fraud and charged Donald Basile in April over a $16 million Bitcoin Latinum token scheme.
- Coverage convergence: The Block's headline frames this as the SEC "wrapping up" the NanoBit case with over $5 million in fines, matching the article's emphasis on the final judgment closing the matter nearly two years after the initial allegations.
Why it matters: The judgment closes a case built on textbook pig-butchering tactics — fake dashboards, impersonated brokers, and withdrawal excuses — and the SEC's parallel charges against other alleged fraudsters (the $12M Texas AI-bot scheme, the $16M Bitcoin Latinum case) show enforcement against outright scams continues even as the agency softens its stance toward legitimate crypto businesses. Investors ultimately saw more than $2 million wired to Hong Kong bank accounts plus crypto misappropriated, and the $5.4 million in penalties exceeds the stolen funds thanks to disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
