Share this article
SEC Charges Ex-Circle Board Member With Investment Fraud
An ex-Circle board member is being sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged investment fraud, it has been revealed.
By Stan Higgins
Updated Apr 10, 2024, 3:12 a.m. Published May 14, 2015, 4:25 p.m.
A former Circle board member is being sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged investment fraud, it has been revealed.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
According to a 13th May press release unsealed by the federal agency, Iftikar Ahmed is accused of fraud and self-dealing in connection with Oak Investment Partners.
Ahmed served as a general partner at Oak, which took part in Circle's $17m Series B round.
Two companies said to be under the control of Ahmed, Iftikar Ali Ahmed Sole Prop and I-Cubed Domains LLC, were named as relief defendants in the complaint. $55m in assets were frozen per an emergency court order.
'Illicit profits'
Ahmed is understood to have stepped down from Circle’s board of directors after a separate SEC suit was filed in early April. Ahmed was arrested and accused of pocketing more than $1m in illicit profits as a result of insider trading, as reported at the time by Fortune.
The new SEC complaint outlined a series of transactions during which Ahmed is said to have accrued roughly $27.5m. This total includes $18m that was unlawfully directed toward a bank account alleged to be under Ahmed's control following the use of $20m to purchase $2m-worth of shares in an e-commerce venture.
Ahmed is also said to have steered Oak funds into other investments in which he had an ownership interest that he did not disclose.
The agency is also pursuing a broader court order against the investor, which includes additional fines and damage payments, it said:
"The SEC is seeking a preliminary injunction to continue the freeze of Ahmed's assets and seeks to have Ahmed return his allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest and pay civil monetary penalties."
The full complaint can be read below.
Images via Wikimedia, Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bank of Japan Set to Hike Rates to 30-Year High, Posing Another Threat to Bitcoin
Rising Japanese rates and a stronger yen threaten carry trades and could pressure crypto markets despite easing U.S. policy.
What to know:
- According to the Nikkei, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is set to increase interest rates to 75bps, the highest level in 30 years.
- Rising Japanese funding costs, alongside falling U.S rates, could force leveraged funds to reduce carry trade exposure, increasing downside risk for bitcoin.
Top Stories
