Alex Konanykhin and Silvina Moschini’s Unicoin Defrauded Investors of $100 Million

Alex Konanykhin and Silvina Moschini built their cryptocurrency empire on systematic fraud, the SEC alleged in May 2025, charging the couple with exploiting over 5,000 investors for more than $100 million through false promises about revolutionary “asset-backed” tokens. The complaint details how the executives inflated sales figures by 2,600%, claimed to own billions in real estate they never acquired, falsely advertised their cryptocurrency as “SEC-registered,” and after three years of collecting investor money never issued a single token.

Konanykhin, a former Russian banking mogul who fled to the U.S. in the 1990s, partnered with Moschini, an Argentine entrepreneur who marketed herself as a champion of women’s economic empowerment. Together they created Unicoin Inc., operating from 2022 through 2025 selling “Unicoin Rights Certificates”—IOUs for future cryptocurrency tokens supposedly backed by real estate and startup equity acquired through their reality TV show “Unicorn Hunters” featuring Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The Asset-Backing Lie and Phantom Sales

Unicoin saturated New York City with marketing claiming its cryptocurrency was “asset-backed, dividend-paying, audited, publicly reporting and regulations-compliant,” spending $38 million over three years on taxi ads, Times Square billboards, airport screens, and television commercials on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business promoting the tokens as safer alternatives to Bitcoin.

The premise was fraudulent. Konanykhin, Moschini, and Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez all admitted under oath they never intended to back tokens with assets. Moschini testified “asset-backed” simply meant the company owned assets. Konanykhin testified cryptocurrency “cannot be backed by something.” Dominguez testified: “So we don’t say, you know, the coin [Unicoin] is backed by assets.” Even Unicoin’s CFO warned executives in February 2022 not to “say [Unicoin tokens are] backed by a find [sic] since a fund has not been technically set up.” They claimed asset backing anyway.

The executives announced escalating sales milestones: $200 million in November 2022, $500 million by June 2023, and ultimately $3 billion by June 2024. Moschini posted to LinkedIn: “I am pleased to share with you that we have achieved $3 billion in Unicoin sales!” Company SEC filings revealed Unicoin raised only $110 million total—less than 4% of the announced $3 billion.

The discrepancy stemmed from counting “deferred” sales under a “Five Year Plan” where investors pledged 20% collateral but weren’t required to pay the remaining 80%. The website advertised “no credit risk: pay only if satisfied with our progress.” By July 2023, internal messages showed executives knew 38% of agreements were defaulting, representing $117 million in unpaid obligations. They continued announcing fake milestones anyway.

The Billion-Dollar Real Estate Fantasy

Unicoin’s “140% program” promised to acquire real estate at 140% of appraised value in exchange for Unicoin certificates. Between August 2023 and January 2024, the company announced four acquisitions supposedly totaling over $1.4 billion. The SEC complaint reveals systematic fraud across every deal.

Argentine copper mining rights announced at $210 million when no appraisal existed. When one arrived 15 months later, it valued the rights at $7.1 million, later revised to $580,000.

A Thailand resort touted as a $335 million deal used a seller-provided “appraisal” valuing future construction at $241 million while stating the land’s actual market value was under $10 million. Dominguez had complained days earlier: “Appraisal for the villas is not even a market appraisal? It looks like he gave us an appraisal on how much it costs to build?” Never closed.

Antigua properties announced at $680 million where the only “appraisal” was a two-page list the seller compiled. Konanykhin told Dominguez “the real value may indeed be under $40M.” They discovered the seller’s representative had been disbarred in New York in 2002 and Grenada in 2014. A local appraiser valued the properties at $50 million. Never closed.

Bahamas properties announced at $554 million. Dominguez sent Konanykhin a DOJ press release showing the seller’s associate had been sentenced to 12.5 years for defrauding 100+ investors in a prior Bahamas land scheme. Dominguez wrote: “Definitely don’t think we should do any business with these people…Who knows if they even own it.” Appraisals stated: “The appraiser cannot validate the ownership.” Multiple structures existed on supposedly “vacant” land. They announced the deal, claiming their portfolio reached $1.4 billion. Never closed.

By year-end 2023, Unicoin’s financial statements showed it had acquired zero real estate under the 140% program. The announced $1.4 billion portfolio didn’t exist.

The False Registration Claims

Press releases, investor updates, and promotional videos repeatedly claimed Unicoin tokens were “SEC-registered,” “U.S. registered,” and “SEC-compliant.” A December 2022 press release quoted Konanykhin calling Unicoin “an SEC-registered security token.” Moschini shared articles describing Unicoin as “the only cryptocurrency that is U.S.-registered, U.S.-based, U.S-regulated, U.S.-audited, and U.S.-publicly reporting.” A January 2025 investor update claimed Unicoin was “uniquely positioned as a U.S.-registered, U.S.-audited, and U.S.-regulated cryptocurrency.”

Unicoin never registered anything with the SEC. The executives ran the company—they knew no registration existed. The SEC also alleges Konanykhin personally sold 37.9 million certificates in unregistered offerings, targeting investors the company had barred from participating to protect its regulatory exemptions. He offered these certificates at better pricing to investors who couldn’t legally participate in the official offering.

The Executives and Reality Show

Alex Konanykhin made his first fortune in 1990s Russia, building a $300 million empire by age 25, including the Russian Exchange Bank. He joined Yeltsin’s inner circle and met with George H.W. Bush in 1992 before claiming he was kidnapped in Budapest and his empire seized. He fled to the U.S., fighting deportation while the FBI warned of a mob contract on his life. After years of legal battles, he was granted asylum in 1999. The government paid him $100,000 to settle unlawful detention claims. A federal judge stated: “I have the firm impression that it is the strong desire of people in the executive branch to return this man to Russia for what reason I cannot tell. It stinks.” He founded TransparentBusiness in 2011, claiming it reached a $1 billion valuation in 2020 as the first “pink unicorn” led by Moschini. In 2022, he offered $1 million for Putin’s arrest after the Ukraine invasion.

Silvina Moschini, born 1972 in Azul, Argentina, worked at Compaq, Visa, and Patagon.com before partnering with Konanykhin. She founded SheWorks!, positioning herself as the first Latin American woman to lead a company to unicorn status. She married Konanykhin, divorced in 2022, but continued as Unicoin president. After the SEC charges, she posted on LinkedIn calling it “a systematic and calculated attack against entrepreneurship” and claiming: “As an immigrant who became a proud American citizen, I came to this country believing in its promise. Today, that promise feels betrayed.”

The couple launched “Unicorn Hunters” in 2021, featuring Steve Wozniak, Lance Bass, and former U.S. Treasurer Rosa Rios evaluating startup pitches. Viewers could invest real money in featured companies. Unicoin acquired stakes in seven companies valued at $8.1 million in its 2024 report.

SEC Enforcement and Political Defense

The SEC filed charges May 20, 2025 in Manhattan federal court against Unicoin, Konanykhin, Moschini, and Dominguez for securities fraud and unregistered offerings. General Counsel Richard Devlin settled without admitting guilt, paying a $37,500 penalty—his settlement suggests the defense may fracture. Mark Cave, SEC Associate Director, stated: “We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings. But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory.”

Konanykhin responded by claiming political persecution, writing to investors: “We would likely be a $10B+ publicly traded company by now if the SEC had not blocked our ICO, stock exchange listing and fundraising.” After Trump’s election, he announced plans to return operations from Europe to New York and wrote the SEC requesting charges be dropped, arguing accusations represent practices used when “the president issued meme coins.” The SEC hasn’t responded. No criminal charges have been filed.

Despite raising $110 million and promising token distribution since 2022, Unicoin has never issued a single token. At a March 2024 shareholder meeting, Konanykhin claimed the company could conduct an IPO in “a matter of days” when minimal preparation had occurred.

Conclusion

Over 5,000 investors hold certificates for phantom tokens backed by phantom assets purchased with phantom money. The company’s own SEC filings confirm virtually no real estate owned and actual sales of $110 million versus $3 billion claimed. Three years after launching, not a single Unicoin token has been issued, the promised ICO never occurred, and the reality TV show-backed “global innovation fund” exists only on marketing materials created with investor money spent on taxi cab advertisements.