TrageTech, aka Trage Technologies, has received a securities fraud desist and refrain order from California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).

DFPI’s November 4th order names three respondents;

  1. Trage Technologies, aka Trage Tech, a Marshall Islands registered shell company
  2. Michael “Mike” Holloway and
  3. Simon Lee

Mike Holloway is cited as Trage Tech’s CEO. It should be noted that when BehindMLM reviewed TrageTech in August 2024, “Michael Hearn” was the company’s CEO.

“Hearn” was played by UK national Daniel Poole. It appears shortly after BehindMLM outed Trage Tech’s Boris CEO, the company found a new actor.

I don’t have a name but TrageTech’s “Michael Holloway” appears to be an expat living in Thailand.

DFPI cites Simon Lee as TrageTech’s Global Marketing Director.

Pertaining to TrageTech’s alleged securities fraud;

Beginning at least as early as 2024, Trage offered and sold securities in the form of investment contracts in California through general solicitations on its website.

Trage refers to these investment contracts as “Crypto Arbitrage Investment Packages” (Packages).

In reality, Trage is a fraudulent pyramid and Ponzi scheme, in which investors are paid using funds deposited by other investors rather than profits from cryptocurrency arbitrage trading.

DFPI claims TrageTech solicited $79 million in crypto investment since launch.

Part of TrageTech’s marketing ruse was baloney about registering with the SEC.

Here’s DFPI’s take on TrageTech’s “SEC registered” claims;

Trage falsely represents that it is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Trage is not registered with the SEC.

In reality, Trage filed a Form D with the SEC on February 22, 2024, and then amended the Form D on June 4, 2024.

Trage does not limit sales to accredited investors and does not take reasonable steps to verify purchasers’ accredited investor status. As such, Trage does not qualify for the safe harbor under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D.

Additionally, Trage filed the Forms D to claim an exemption specifically for an offering of equity securities.

Trage offers Crypto Arbitrage Investment Packages, not equity securities. The Form D filings do not provide a safe harbor for the Crypto Arbitrage Investment Packages that Trage offers to investors.

BehindMLM correctly concluded as much in our TrageTech review.

DFPI goes on to conclude;

The Packages offered by Trage are securities that are neither qualified nor exempt from the qualification requirement under the CSL.

The Department has not issued a permit or other form of qualification authorizing Trage to sell these securities in California.

Pursuant to Corporations Code section 25532, Trage Technologies Ltd a/k/a Trage Tech, Simon Lee, and Michael “Mike” Holloway are hereby ordered to desist and refrain from offering or selling or buying or offering to buy any security in California.

DFPI’s desist and refrain order follows a TrageTech securities fraud warning from Texas last month.

As US authorities closed in, TrageTech went to collapse on or around October 30th. Since then TrageTech’s website has been unavailable.

This leaves TrageTech investors with at least $79 million in losses. The majority of TrageTech investors are believed to be US residents.

As of September 2024, SimilarWeb tracked 1.1 million monthly visits to TrageTech’s website. 63% of TrageTech’s website traffic originated from the US, followed by 22% from Canada.

TrageTech is believed to be run by Russian and/or Chinese scammers operating from Thailand.