SEC v. Rivetz Corp., Rivetz International SEZC, and Steven K. Sprague (paid stock promotion, 2021)
Alleged — pending
These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.
Machine-extracted, pending human review. The structured fields on this page were parsed automatically from the regulator's own release, linked below. Read the primary document before relying on any figure here, and tell us if something is wrong.
In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an action against Rivetz Corp., Rivetz International SEZC, and Steven K. Sprague, alleging conduct this library classifies as paid stock promotion. No monetary relief has been recorded at this stage; the matter is an allegation and remains unproven.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | LR-25198 |
| Date filed | 2021-09-08 |
| Status | filed |
| Asset class | crypto |
| Criminal parallel | No |
| Defendants | Rivetz Corp., Rivetz International SEZC, ; Steven K. Sprague |
| Techniques | Paid stock promotion |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on September 8, 2021 as release LR-25198. The respondents named are Rivetz Corp., Rivetz International SEZC, and Steven K. Sprague (1 individual, 1 entity).
This library tags the matter as paid stock promotion, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.
The conduct is recorded against crypto.
This matter is at the allegation stage. Nothing in the regulator's filing has been proven, and the respondents are entitled to the presumption that it has not been. This page will be updated if the matter is resolved, dismissed or withdrawn.
What technique is this, and how does it work?
This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.
- Paid stock promotion — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Timeline
- 2021-09-08 Litigation release published
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.
Related actions
Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.
| Action | Agency | Filed | Technique | Penalty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Joshua A. Weiss (paid stock promotion, 2026) | SEC | 2026-07-10 | Paid Stock Promotion | — | judgment |
| SEC v. Stephen J. Czarnik (paid stock promotion, 2026) | SEC | 2026-06-29 | Paid Stock Promotion , Unregistered Distributions | — | judgment |
| SEC v. Vestech Partners LLC and others (paid stock promotion, 2026) | SEC | 2026-04-08 | Paid Stock Promotion | — | settled |
| SEC v. Justin Sun, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., Rainberry, Inc., and DeAndre Cortez Way (paid stock promotion, 2026) | SEC | 2026-03-05 | Paid Stock Promotion , Wash Trading | — | judgment |
| SEC v. George John Drazenovic (paid stock promotion, 2025) | SEC | 2025-12-19 | Paid Stock Promotion , Pump And Dump | — | judgment |
| SEC v. Andrew Scott Corbman (paid stock promotion, 2025) | SEC | 2025-12-03 | Paid Stock Promotion | — | judgment |