Australian promoter of BitConnect guilty of unlicensed financial advice, regulator says

(Reuters) - The Sydney District Court has convicted John Bigatton, the Australian promoter of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange platform BitConnect, of providing unlicenced financial advice, the country's corporate regulator said on Monday.

Bigatton provided unsolicited financial advice while promoting BitConnect in seminars and on social media between August 2017 and January 2018, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said, disqualifying him from managing corporations for five years.

Founded in 2016, BitConnect created a digital token called BitConnect Coin that could be changed for bitcoin, the popular cryptocurrency, to participate in the exchange's investment opportunities.

In two of the seminars, Bigatton claimed that BitConnect is better than any term deposit out there and that BitConnect Coins would increase in value to at least $1,000, ASIC said.

In 2020, the regulator had banned Bigatton from providing financial services for seven years.

"Providing unlicensed financial advice denies Australian investors access to key protections and undermines trust and confidence in Australia’s financial services industry," ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said.

In 2021, the top U.S. securities regulator had sued BitConnect's founder over his alleged role in fraudulently raising about $2 billion from retail investors.

Bigatton's case is "a reminder that many crypto assets are financial products under the current law and that services relating to require an Australian financial services licence", the ASIC said.

In 2018, the regulator applied to the Federal Court to freeze Bigatton's assets, including crypto, marking the first time for an Australian regulator to obtain freezing orders over digital assets. The total value of assets frozen is said to be in millions.

(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)