The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused John A. DeSalvo, a former lieutenant with the New Jersey Department of Corrections, of orchestrating a cryptocurrency scam that specifically focused on first responders and police officers. DeSalvo was the one who started this scheme, which was based on the cryptocurrency he created and called Blazar.
On August 23, the SEC announced that it has alleged DeSalvo orchestrated the sale of his Blazar coin from November 2021 to May 2022, during which period he managed to gather $623,388 from 222 investors.
During his presentation, DeSalvo contended that the Blazar pension plan could serve as a viable alternative to the currently available state-administered retirement plans for law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, and that it would provide significantly higher returns. He proposed that individuals could acquire the token by having deductions taken from their paycheck, similar to contributions made to a pension plan.
DeSalvo falsely claimed that Blazar had obtained SEC registration, even though the token had not been registered. Contrary to his initial claims of a lock-up period, he sold a staggering 41 billion Blazar tokens on the PancakeSwap market in May 2022, which resulted in a drop of almost 99.9% in the token’s value.
According to the allegations made by the SEC, this widespread selling drove down the value of the token, which resulted in significant losses for investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking a permanent injunction against DeSalvo in addition to civil penalties and the return of profits. This would prevent DeSalvo from taking part in any future offerings of securities.
