SEC Accused Opporty Marketplace in Fraudulent Actions

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused the Opporty International marketplace of fraud, according to a litigation release.

During 2017 and 2018, Opporty and its founder, Sergey GRIBNYAK, raised more than $600,000 during an ICO. As stated in the statement of the Commission, the company claimed to be registered with the SEC, and is complying with securities laws, which was a falsification.

In addition, Opporty allegedly deceived investors regarding its development. During the token sale, the marketplace claimed that it has 6,000 providers ready to conduct business on its platform. Opporty also claimed to have a catalog of over 17 million small businesses that are eligible to operate on the platform. SEC believes that the providers did not express a desire to participate in the project — the company simply acquired a base of contacts from a third party. As the Commission states:

“The catalog included government officials and agencies that were not and could not possibly be users eligible to conduct business.”

According to the text of the complaint, the company created “materially false and misleading impressions about the legitimacy, use, growth, and success of [its] platform”. Opporty is also accused of illegality of reviews and false partnership representation.

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