John Wise
Founder and CEO of Loci, which ran the LOCIcoin ICO. The SEC charged him with fraud for false claims about Loci's revenue, staff, and user base (raising $7.6M) and for misusing $38K of investor funds; he settled with an officer/director bar.
Also known as: John Wise
Bio
John Wise founded and led Loci Inc. and its InnVenn platform, promoting the LOCIcoin ICO with false claims about the company's revenue, employee count, user base, and partnerships. The SEC said he misused $38,163 of investor proceeds for personal expenses. [1][2]
Outcome
In June 2021, without admitting or denying the findings, Wise settled the SEC's antifraud/registration charges; Loci paid a $7.6 million penalty and Wise accepted an officer-and-director bar and a ban from future digital-securities offerings. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
