Crypto Mogul Moshe Hogeg's ICOs Have Unusual Patterns, Analysis Finds

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Best-known internationally as the chief executive of the blockchain smartphone startup Sirin Labs, Moshe Hogeg is becoming known for something else in Israel - mounting lawsuits.

The judge has reportedly given Hogeg until March 15 to settle with the plaintiff, Chinese investor Zhewen Hu. This follows an earlier case involving Hogeg's company Invest.com that has since been settled.

Specifically, in the case of the ICO for the startup Stox, a company co-founded by Hogeg and endorsed by boxer Floyd Mayweather, the lawsuit claims Hogeg inappropriately withdrew proceeds from its $35 million ICO and used the funds for other projects, including Sirin Labs, his VC firm Singulariteam and the blockchain startup Orbs.

The Stox lawsuit also mentions allegedly mismanaged funds going to Sirin Labs, the startup of which Hogeg is currently CEO. Sirin raised more than $157 million in a 2017 token sale and is now seeking distribution partners for its Finney smartphone.

Beyond the Stox ICO, Hogeg was listed that same year as an advisor to the LeadCoin ICO, launched by a startup called Webydo that Hogeg also invested in through Singulariteam.

In light of the questions that have been raised about Stox and Sirin Labs, CoinDesk partnered with the blockchain analytics firm Alethio, part of the Brooklyn conglomerate ConsenSys, to use its new reporting tools to explore the ICOs in which Hogeg has been involved.

Although the blockchain analysis by Alethio doesn't show who controlled any wallets, and Hogeg's spokesperson declined to clarify if they are aware of the owners, the blockchain analysis did show that the wallet with all three tokens received LeadCoin tokens indirectly, through a repeating pattern of proxy transfers, from the LeadCoin sale itself.

Since joining the blockchain sector in 2013, Hogeg has invested in and worked with many of Israel's crypto startups.

While Sirin Labs partnered with Bancor in the SRN token sale and Bancor published a Facebook post about SRN, a Bancor spokesperson told CoinDesk that "No Bancor founders have ever worked with Moshe Hogeg as an investor" and they did not have any "Agreement with Alignment Group."

While an Orbs spokesperson denied involvement with any of Hogeg's crypto projects, CoinDesk was able to confirm with the Orbs team that Hogeg invested in Orbs through Singulariteam.

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