On July 20, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed partially settled charges against Zan Shaikh, a Florida resident, and his company Mining Automatic alleging that they misappropriated and misused investor funds after raising approximately $22 million from more than 380 investors in connection with a fraudulent scheme involving purported crypto asset mining.

According to the SEC’s complaint, between approximately June 2023 and May 2025, Shaikh and Mining Automatic promised investors guaranteed monthly returns from investing in a purported crypto asset mining operation that was insufficient to generate the promised returns. As alleged, crypto asset “miners” are participants in a crypto network who provide computational resources to validate transactions on the network, for which the miners may be rewarded with crypto assets.

Shaikh and Mining Automatic allegedly made misrepresentations, including about their experience, expertise, and track record in crypto asset mining; the uses of investors’ money; the status of the crypto asset mining operations; and the purported reasons why they could not make monthly payments to investors when they were due.

The complaint alleges that, despite their representations that they would use investors’ funds to engage in crypto asset mining, Shaikh and Mining Automatic used only about 13% of investors’ funds on expenses relating to purported crypto asset mining.

According to the complaint, Shaikh and Mining Automatic took in at least $20 million more in investments than they have repaid to investors and used investors’ funds largely for marketing to solicit new investors and to pay for Shaikh’s personal and unrelated business expenses.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, charges Shaikh and Mining Automatic with violating Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Shaikh and Mining Automatic consented to the entry of judgments, subject to court approval, that would permanently enjoin them from violating Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and impose an officer and director bar and a conduct based injunction against Shaikh.

Additionally, the judgments provide that the defendants shall pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties in amounts to be determined by the Court upon motion by the Commission.