Founder of BitClout and DeSo Charged with Defrauding Investors in $250 Million Scandal

On July 30th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Nader Al-Naji has been charged with defrauding investors after raising over $250 million from the unregistered sales of BitClout’s native token, BTCLT.

According to the SEC complaint, Al-Naji misled these investors by claiming he did not control the token proceeds and would not use the funds as compensation for himself nor other BitClout employees.

Despite those explicit claims, the SEC alleges Al-Naji used investor funds to personally enrich himself, his relatives, his companies, and others close to him.

A former junior world champion rower and Princeton University graduate, Nader Al-Naji also worked as a software engineer at Google before entering the world of crypto.

In 2018, Al-Naji raised over $133 million for his venture, Intangible Labs, which aimed to develop a stable cryptocurrency called “Basis”.

After failing to deliver Basis due to regulatory concerns, Al-Naji earned himself a positive reputation in the industry when he returned all $133 million that was originally raised for the project.

Al-Naji went on to found BitClout in 2021. BitClout, described as “The First Crypto Social Network”…