The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have made progress in its action against Sohrab “Sam” Sharma, Raymond Trapani, and Robert Farkas. This becomes clear from documents filed by the SEC with the New York Southern District Court on November 3, 2021.

The SEC confirms that the parties have reached settlements in principle that, if authorized by the Commission and approved by the Court, would resolve the Commission’s claims against the defendants.

Let’s recall that, in April 2018, the Commission charged two co-founders of a purported financial services start-up with orchestrating a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) that raised more than $32 million from thousands of investors last year. Criminal authorities separately charged and arrested both defendants.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Sohrab “Sam” Sharma and Robert Farkas, co-founders of Centra Tech., Inc., masterminded a fraudulent ICO in which Centra offered and sold unregistered investments through a “CTR Token.” Sharma and Farkas allegedly claimed that funds raised in the ICO would help build a suite of financial products.

The SEC also alleges that to promote the ICO, Sharma and Farkas created fictional executives with impressive biographies, posted false or misleading marketing materials to Centra’s website, and paid celebrities to tout the ICO on social media.

According to the complaint, Farkas made flight reservations to leave the country, but was arrested before he was able to board his flight. Criminal authorities also arrested Sharma.

According to the latest Court filings, over the past few days, the defendants have each individually reached an agreement in principle with the SEC’s counsel to resolve the Commission’s claims against them. Commission counsel now anticipates seeking Commission authorization for the proposed settlements, a process that typically takes six weeks.

If the Commission authorizes the settlements, the parties will promptly submit the proposed consent judgments to the Court for its consideration.