Renwick Haddow, a UK citizen who allegedly perpetrated multiple frauds, has received additional sanctions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Haddow apparently also adopted the alias “Jonathan Black.”
Haddow was previously disqualified as a director of any United Kingdom company for eight years, and was sued by the UK Financial Conduct Authority for operating investment schemes that lost investors substantially all of their money.
According to a filing from last week, Haddow has been barred by the SEC from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization; and barred from participating in any offering of a penny stock, including: acting as a promoter, finder, consultant, agent or other person who engages in activities with a broker, dealer or issuer.
In 2017, the SEC filed fraud charges against Haddow, who was living in New York, alleging he as the “clandestine founder” and creator of a Bitcoin platform and a chain of co-working spaces located in former bars and restaurants. The SEC said that Haddow fleeced investors while hiding his checkered past in the UK. There were several allegedly fake companies; Bar Works Inc., 7th Avenue. and the Bitcoin Store Inc. The SEC said that between January 2015 and June 2017, Haddow, through Bar Works, 7th Avenue, and Bitcoin Store, collectively raised over $37 million from investors. Haddow also founded and controlled the unregistered broker-dealer, InCrowd Equity, Inc. which he used along with other marketing platforms to promote and sell securities. The Bitcoin Store as apparently a platform for users to trade and hold Bitcoin.
In 2018, Haddow was extradited to the United States from Morocco by the US Department of Justice. Haddow has been the target of a concurrent criminal prosecution by the US Department of Justice.
On May 8, 2019, Haddow pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. On September 10, 2019, a final judgment was entered by consent against Haddow.
According to a report by World Policy posted in 2015, Haddow allegedly ran a scam in the UK where he “siphoned a conservative estimate of $180 million using a number of fabricated alternative investments.”