The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has won a 1.1 million court victory against Keith Crews, an online scammer who ran a crypto scam and failed to answer the agency’s lawsuit. The SEC sued Keith Crews in 2023, accusing him of a crypto fraud scheme. Crews was told to answer to the complaint during the lawsuit proceedings, and he failed to do so, which led to a default win for the U.S. regulator.
A Georgia federal court declared an official judgment in favour of the SEC on June 3. This recent win of the crypto-related case for the SEC is an unfamiliar scenario in the American financial system since the Trump administration’s pro-crypto attitude and crypto enforcement strategies.
Judge Tiffany Johnson ordered Keith to pay over $1.1 million in financial penalties
A Georgia federal court judge, Tiffany Johnson, has ordered Keith Crews, an alleged crypto scammer, to pay financial penalties of over $1.1 million. The court found him liable for disgorgement of $530,000 in net profits from the alleged crypto scam imposed on Crews. The court also ordered him to bear prejudgment interest of around $51,000, and he needs to pay a civil penalty of $530,000 as well.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Keith Crews with an alleged crypto fraud scheme in 2023. The recent news asserts that the regulating agency has been handed over a $1.1 million court victory since Crews failed to answer the lawsuit initiated by the agency.
The court, presided over by the Honorable Tiffany R. Johnson, stated that, since the defendant Keith Crews had failed to plead or otherwise defend himself in this action and default had been duly entered, an order was given on June 2, 2025, directing that judgment be issued in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant. It was ordered that Crews was permanently restrained and enjoined from violating, directly or indirectly, Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.
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Keith Crews vs. the Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC alleged that Keith Crews facilitated and operated crypto-related fraudulent activities through Four Square Biz and Stem Biotech, two companies owned by him. The SEC claims that Crews carried out this fraud scheme between October 2019 and May 2021, and he allegedly raised at least $800,000 from around 200 investors via the sale of ‘Stemy Coin,’ a purported crypto asset security. The regulating authority also claimed that the many investors associated with Keith Crews were “solicited through relationships in African-American and church communities.”
According to the complaint registered by the SEC, Crews made false promises to investors, such as the tokens associated with his projects were backed by collaterals like gold and advanced technologies like ‘stem cell technology’. He also claimed that his company had working labs, products, and a well-maintained track record of offering stem cell treatments.
The SEC confirmed that Keith’s claims were all fake and the firm had no working labs, products, partnership, or access to stem cell technology. The SEC stated that Crews and his entities had no existing stem cell technology, products, or operations, and that there was no partnership with the claimed entities. It also mentioned that the company had violated various federal securities laws, like the Exchange Act and Securities Act fraud provisions.
