Crypto firm Helio Lending gets bond sentence over false license claims

Australia-based crypto lender Helio Lending has been sentenced to a non-conviction good behavior bond for a year for falsely claiming it had a local credit license.

On Aug. 17, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said Helio was sentenced to the good-behavior bond for a year and would have to to pay 15,000 Australian dollars ($9,600) if the bond is broken.

Good behavior bonds are often granted for less serious offenses. A non-conviction good behavior bond will mean Helios will only be convicted if it breaks its bond, and will have to pay the $9,600. A significantly lighter sentence than the maximum $160,000 penalty it faced.

ASIC said Helio falsely stated it had an Australian credit license in an August 2019 news article that appeared on its website.

Melbourne-based cryptocurrency lender Helio Lending Pty Ltd has been sentenced to a non-conviction bond for falsely claiming that it held an Australian credit licence when it did not https://t.co/GwrQ5VbRBf pic.twitter.com/gOsHHp02xL

— ASIC Media (@asicmedia) August 17, 2023

Helio pleaded guilty, which ASIC said was accounted for in the sentencing decision and a charge relating to a false representation of holding a license on Helio’s website was withdrawn.

Helio offered crypto-backed loans and is an Australian subsidiary of the United States-based crypto-focused public holding company Cyios Corporation, which also owns the yet-to-launch nonfungible token platform Randombly.

ASIC charged Helio in April 2022 over the matter. In a circulating investor update from late 2018, Helio claimed it received the license by buying out Cash Flow Investments and its held license.

ASIC’s latest win follows other crypto-related suits its launched in recent weeks.

Earlier in August the regulator sued the trading platform eToro alleging its screening tests before offering leveraged derivative contracts to retail investors were insufficient.

Finder.com was also sued in December, with ASIC claiming the financial product comparison site’s crypto yield-bearing product was offered without the required license.

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