TechFlow reported on July 30 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Nader Al-Naji, founder of BitClout, accusing him of orchestrating a multi-million-dollar fraudulent crypto asset scheme involving the social media platform BitClout and its native token BTCLT. Since November 2020, Al-Naji raised over $257 million from unregistered BTCLT offerings and falsely told investors the funds would not be used for personal compensation.
The SEC alleges that Al-Naji portrayed BitClout as a decentralized project and used the pseudonym "Diamondhands" to evade regulatory scrutiny. In reality, Al-Naji diverted more than $7 million in investor funds for personal expenses, including renting a luxury mansion in Beverly Hills and giving lavish cash gifts to family members. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has also filed charges against Al-Naji.
