StableDAO’s Nicholas Hofgren banned for fraud in Guernsey
StableDAO board member Nicholas Hofgren, aka Nick Hofgren, has been banned from holding executive positions in Guernsey.
Specifically and for a period of fourteen years, in November 2022 the Guernsey Financial Services Commission prohibited Hofgren
from holding the position of Controller, Director, Partner, Manager, Money Laundering Reporting Officer and Money Laundering Compliance Officer in relation to a Guernsey entity.
Hofgren’s fraudulent conduct pertains to GFG Limited, a Guernsey company Hofgren was an Executive Director of.
GFG Limited was tied to various forex, real-estate and securitised debts investment schemes, grouped under the banner of “Vega Swiss Asset Management UK LLP”.
Hofgren funnelled “50% of [GFG’s] net income” into Rivage Management, a company “beneficially owned by Mr. Hofgren”.
The sanctions imposed on Mr Hofgren were based on various findings that he failed to meet aspects of the Minimum Criteria for Licensing.
[The FSC] also imposed sanctions on GFG Limited (“GFG”), formerly a corporate licensed provider of investment management
services but by then in liquidation, of which Mr Hofgren had been an Executive Director at all material times and since its inception, and of which he was and is the joint ultimate beneficial owner and controller together with a Mr Cheek.
The FSC considered hitting Hofgren with a financial penalty but decided against it based on the ambiguity of Hofgren’s then financial situation.
Whilst [the Senior Decision Maker] imposed no discretionary financial penalty upon Mr Hofgren pursuant to s. 39 of the EP Law, the Decision states that a penalty of £290,000 would have been imposed, but for his impecunious financial circumstances (I am not sure if he is formally bankrupt) and the fact that imposing a financial penalty upon him would dilute funds which might otherwise be available to his creditors.
Hofgren appealed the decision, arguing that
the Decision was unreasonable, and/or contained material errors of fact and of law, and/or imposed disproportionate sanctions upon him in comparison to other previous cases, and to those imposed on others who were also involved in the same alleged contraventions.
Citing Hofgren as “the central and leading protagonist” in GFG’s fraud, the Royal Court of Guernsey denied Hofgren’s appeal on November 21st.
At the time of his Guernsey executive ban Hofgren was a StableDAO Board Member.
StableDAO was an MLM crypto Ponzi factory created by Sam Lee. Lee launched StableDao in 2022 following the collapse of HyperFund, another MLM crypto Ponzi.
Lee was indicted on HyperFund related fraud charges in January 2024. The SEC has also filed a HyperFund civil fraud case.
Our last update on Lee is he was detained in Dubai on an Interpol arrest warrant in October.
Today StableDAO’s website is no longer accessible. Hofgren, a US citizen purportedly residing in London, is the CFO of Quoherent.
Quoherent, which represents it is based out of Alabama in the US, pitches itself as “a cutting-edge startup pioneering the next frontier in quantum computing.”