The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Mango DAO, Blockworks Foundation, and Mango Labs LLC for engaging in unregistered offers and sales of crypto assets, as well as unregistered broker activities.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation raised over $70 million from the sale of MNGO tokens, the governance tokens of the Mango Markets platform, to hundreds of investors worldwide. Blockworks Foundation and Mango Labs are also accused of operating as unregistered brokers by facilitating securities transactions on the platform.
The SEC alleges that Mango Markets violated federal securities laws by failing to register their offerings and activities. “The label ‘DAO’ does not change the reality of who is behind a project or whether their activities need to be registered,” said Jorge G. Tenreiro, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit.
Mango DAO, Blockworks Foundation, and Mango Labs have agreed to settle the SEC charges, which include paying a $700,000 civil penalty and destroying their MNGO tokens. They have also agreed to refrain from soliciting trading platforms to allow trading in or offering or selling MNGO.
