Feds Investigating Steve Bannon's Cryptocurrency Offering
According to an Aug. 30 tweet posted by investigative journalist Scott Stedman, federal officials are probing into a cryptocurrency offering called “GDollars” managed by Steve Bannon, a former campaign strategist of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Despite allegedly raising millions of dollars, the dubious cryptocurrency was never licensed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Stripe pulled the plug on GDollars
The GDollars project was launched by GTV Media, a joint venture of Bannon and exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
While its website is inactive now, its archived version shows that the company’s clients were able to order anywhere from $199.99 to $999,999.99 worth of crypto.
All payments were initially handled by Stripe but the $36 bln commerce giant eventually stopped working with the GDollars website due to legal uncertainties.
Wengui, who’s known for his political activism and fervent criticism the Communist Party of China, is currently being investigated by federal officials over GTV Media’s private share placement that could have violated U.S. securities laws.
Alex DovbnyaBannon doesn’t toe Trump’s crypto line
It should be noted that Stedman’s claims are purely based on anonymous sources, and the involvement of Bannon in promoting the GDollars cryptocurrency is yet to be confirmed.
If true, it would certainly exacerbate the predicament of the bellicose right-winger who was arrested and charged with fraud last week over his border wall fundraising effort.
Last August, Bannon revealed that he owned Bitcoin and predicted that cryptocurrencies would have “a big future.”
“They could be a very important part going forward, particularly in this global populist revolt.”
This came less than a month after Trump lambasted Bitcoin and Libra on Twitter.
Arman Shirinyan
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov