The Texas State Securities Board has accused a network of companies under the “GS” brand and operating from Germany of fraudulent activities “tied to digital assets, investments in a staking pool in a proprietary metaverse.” The network of companies is controlled by Josip Dortmund Heit.
As described by regulators on Nov. 16, respondents GS Partners, GS Smart Finance and GS Wealth allegedly held three rounds of metaverse property sales beginning September 2021. At the time, investors were informed that they could purchase XLT Vouchers, or BNB Chain tokens representing ownership of one square inch of a unit in the company’s G999 Tower metaverse, at 9.63 USDT (USDT) per voucher. However, the token rapidly lost its value, to less than 0.0000049 USDT apiece on decentralized exchange PancakeSwap, after the respondents failed to reach its $175 million raise target for the offering.