Michael Alan Stollery, the CEO and founder of Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc. (TBIS), has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison for his role in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme that raised approximately $21 million from investors worldwide.
Stollery was found guilty of luring investors to purchase “BARs,” the cryptocurrency token or coin offered by TBIS’s initial coin offering (ICO), through a series of false and misleading statements. Stollery did not register the ICO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or have a valid exemption from the SEC’s registration requirements.
Stollery falsified aspects of TBIS’s white papers, which purportedly explained the cryptocurrency investment offering, including the purpose and technology behind the offering, how it was different from other cryptocurrency opportunities, and the prospects for its profitability.
He also planted fake client testimonials on TBIS’s website and falsely claimed to have business relationships with the Federal Reserve and dozens of prominent companies to create a false appearance of legitimacy.
Stollery 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.
