The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges against the defendants, and over the Provo, Utah-based company's alleged unregistered sale of the SafeMoon token.
Lawyers for SafeMoon and the individual defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to court papers, SafeMoon also promised investors that the token's features would "drive the price to stratospheric all-time highs" and "Safely to the Moon."
SafeMoon was valued at about $50 million on Wednesday afternoon, losing more than half its value after the charges were announced, according to CoinMarketCap.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Al Drago, Kyle Nagy, Braden John Karony, Thomas Smith, SafeMoon, Ivan Arvelo, Smith, BRO, Karony, Nagy, Gary Gensler, Jonathan Stempel, Jonathan Oatis
Organizations:
U.S . Department of Justice, REUTERS, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SafeMoon, McLaren, Porsche, Homeland Security Investigations, SEC, Thomson
Locations:
American, Washington , U.S, Brooklyn, Provo , Utah, New York, Provo, Bethlehem , New Hampshire