Final Judgment in Case of SEC vs. Telegram

The final judgment in the case of the U.S. SEC vs. Telegram Group Inc. and TON Issuer Inc. was filed with the District Court of Southern District of New York on Thursday. District Judge P. Kevin Castel has ordered Telegram Group Inc. to pay a civil penalty of $18,500,000 to the SEC within 30 days.

Telegram must also return 70% of the $1.7 billion raised, specifically the unspent portion of the funds obtained from investors less any money already refunded or that investors have offered to loan the company. The court document states:

"Defendants are jointly and severally liable for disgorgement of $1,224,000,000."

"Today's proposed settlement reconfirms our commitment to repay the remaining funds to purchasers under the purchase agreements," Telegram founder Pavel Durov was quoted by Siliconangle as saying. "We've already repaid more than $1.2 billion to the purchasers either directly or in the form of loans."

Furthermore, the court order details that for the next three years, the defendants and all persons involved who received the final judgment are required to give 45 days' notice to the SEC before participating "in an issuance of 'cryptocurrencies,' 'digital coins,' 'digital tokens,' or any similar digital asset issued or transferred using distributed ledger technology."