Civil Plaintiff
Music Streamer Akazoo Settles SEC Fraud Charges for $38.8 Million
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday said it had settled charges against Akazoo S.A., a Greek firm purporting to be a music streaming business, for $38.8 million after the firm allegedly defrauded investors out of tens of millions of dollars.
Akazoo went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2019. The SEC froze the firm’s assets a year ago as part of an investigation into claims made by the company.
According to the SEC, Akazoo told investors it was a rapidly growing music streaming company focused on emerging markets with over 38.2 million registered users and $120 million in annual revenue, but in reality, the company had no paying users and negligible revenue.
