The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has removed regulatory filings submitted by two cryptocurrency firms, BG Wealth Sharing and DSJ Exchange, after alleging the companies used the filings to promote a fraudulent investment program.
Alleged scheme details
According to the SEC, the firms raised more than $130 million from tens of thousands of investors in the United States and abroad between October 2025 and June 2026. The program promised monthly returns of at least 60 percent and claimed investors could double their money within 40 days without risk.
BG Wealth presented itself as the world’s largest hedge fund and an SEC‑licensed investment adviser, while DSJ Exchange claimed to operate a secure cryptocurrency trading platform. The SEC says the promised trading activity was fictitious and that most investor deposits were diverted rather than invested.
Use of SEC filing system
The firms allegedly leveraged the SEC’s public disclosure infrastructure to lend credibility to their claims. BG Wealth filed a Form ADV asserting exempt reporting adviser status, and DSJ Exchange filed a Form D announcing a purported $100 million securities offering. These documents were publicly accessible through the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system and the EDGAR database, allowing promoters to point prospective investors to government‑hosted records as proof of legitimacy.
Investigators also found that the companies produced fabricated registration certificates bearing the SEC’s seal and identifiers associated with the filings, despite neither firm being registered or licensed by the SEC.
Investor impact
The SEC’s complaint states that more than 223,000 blockchain addresses sent funds to the scheme between March and early June 2026. It estimates that no more than $25 million was returned to investors through Ponzi‑like payments, with the remainder largely misappropriated.
Investors reported that withdrawal requests were met with fees of up to 20 percent, delays, and eventual blocking of access. The firms later demanded additional tax payments and encouraged investors to move assets to another platform, HQI Exchange, without restoring withdrawal capability.
Regulatory action
The SEC has removed BG Wealth’s Form ADV and DSJ Exchange’s Form D from its public websites. It has also filed a civil lawsuit in the Northern District of California seeking permanent injunctions, financial penalties, repayment of alleged unlawful gains with interest, and a prohibition on BG Wealth filing future Form ADV submissions as an exempt reporting adviser.
