Nova Labs Settles SEC Fraud Charges for $200,000 Without Admission of Wrongdoing
Nova Labs, the parent company of the Helium blockchain, will pay $200,000 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle civil securities fraud charges related to misleading investors during a funding round from late 2021 to early 2022.
Key points include:
- The SEC accused Nova Labs of falsely claiming relationships with major companies like Nestle, Salesforce, and Lime to secure $200 million in capital at a $1 billion valuation.
- Nova Labs did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement.
- The SEC stated that actual interactions with these companies were minimal and occurred before the Helium network's launch in mid-2019.
- Nestle and Lime issued cease-and-desist orders against Nova Labs for misusing their trademarks.
- As part of the settlement, two claims regarding federal securities law violations concerning three tokens—Helium Network Token (HNT), Helium Mobile Network Token (MOBILE), and Helium IoT Network Token (IOT)—were dropped with prejudice.
Nova Labs called the settlement a positive outcome, asserting that their hardware sales and token distributions are not classified as securities by the SEC. The agreement is pending approval by a federal judge.