Steven Chiang received a $3.3 million judgment on February 1st, following a motion for judgment filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 31st. The court order requires Chiang to pay the sum within thirty days.

The judgment against Chiang includes $2.5 million in disgorgement, representing ill-gotten gains from the scheme. He must also pay $603,773 in pre-judgment interest and a civil penalty of $223,229. The total monetary obligation is $3,331,586.

Beyond the financial penalties, the judgment imposes a permanent injunction on Chiang. This order prohibits him from engaging in future violations of securities fraud laws, specifically those related to the fraudulent offering and sale of unregistered securities.

Chiang, also known as Cyrus Kong, co-founded the Nasgo and Sharenode operations with Eric Tippetts in 2019. These ventures functioned as a cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme, selling unregistered digital securities in the form of tokens. The scheme promised investors high returns, which in reality were paid using money from new participants rather than genuine business profits. The operation eventually collapsed, leaving investors with significant losses.

The SEC filed its lawsuit against Chiang and Tippetts in early 2022, several years after Nasgo ceased operations. Tippetts settled the SEC's case against him in August 2022, reaching an agreement with the regulator.

The SEC's investigation also extended to James Hardy and Maurice "Butch" Chelliah. Hardy and Chelliah assisted Tippetts and Chiang in defrauding consumers through the Nasgo platform. The SEC secured judgments against Chelliah in December 2022 and against Hardy in March 2023. Monetary judgments against Chelliah and Hardy remain to be determined, pending further filings from the SEC.

Victims of Ponzi schemes like Nasgo often face total loss of their investments. The SEC continues to pursue those who promote and operate such fraudulent ventures, seeking to recover funds and impose penalties for illegal securities activities. The agency's enforcement actions aim to deter future fraud and protect the integrity of financial markets.