An Australian Federal Court granted the crypto market regulator’s request to hand over approximately US$41 million in digital assets invested by over 450 Australians in the NGS group of blockchain mining companies to three specialists from McGrathNicol, an independent advisory and restructuring firm.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) announced on Friday that it has initiated legal actions against NGS Crypto, NGS Digital, and NGS Group, as well as their sole directors, Brett Mendham, Ryan Brown, and Mark Ten Caten. Mendham is also restricted from going outside of Australia.
The court decision came after ASIC accused the companies of violating Australian law by providing financial services without an Australian financial services license.
“ASIC alleges that the NGS Companies target Australian investors to invest in blockchain mining packages with fixed-rate returns, encouraging them to use funds transferred from regulated super funds to self-managed super funds (SMSFs) and then converted into crypto currency,” the Australian Securities and Investments Commission stated.
The presence of a restructuring business does not necessarily imply that the companies have failed. ASIC stated that it was worried about the money’s potential dissipation and that appointing a receiver was the best method to protect the assets. While it continues to investigate, ASIC has not sought an outright ban on the companies but rather interim and final injunctions prohibiting them from functioning without a license.