SEC v. Neil Bergquist; Up and Global SEZC; Coinme, Inc. (unregistered distributions, 2023)

Settled

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In 2023 the SEC settled an administrative order against Neil Bergquist, Up Global Sezc and Coinme, Inc. over an unregistered UpToken offering, with separate penalties of $150,000, $3.52 million and $250,000.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

On April 28, 2023 the SEC accepted settlements with Neil Bergquist, Up Global Sezc and Coinme, Inc. The order finds they conducted an unregistered offering of UpToken between October and December 2017, violating Securities Act Sections 5(a) and 5(c), with misleading statements about the amount raised. Bergquist pays a $150,000 penalty, Up Global a $3,520,000 penalty for which Coinme is jointly liable, and Coinme a separate $250,000 penalty. The record previously showed a $90 million gain, which was a count of tokens and not dollars, and omitted Coinme and Up Global's penalties; the total is not stated in one figure, so none is recorded. The record also garbled the names.

This library tags the matter as unregistered distributions, based on the conduct the document describes. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Unregistered distributions — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2023-04-28 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.