Australia’s Helio Lending faces major penalty for deceit

Helio Lending, a cryptocurrency lending firm based in Australia, has been sentenced to a one-year non-conviction good behavior bond for making false claims regarding its possession of a local credit license. On August 17, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed that Helio Lending had been given the year-long good behavior bond, which would require the company to pay a fine of $9,600 (equivalent to 15,000 Australian dollars) if the bond is breached.

Melbourne-based cryptocurrency lender Helio Lending Pty Ltd has been sentenced to a non-conviction bond for falsely claiming that it held an Australian credit licence when it did not https://t.co/GwrQ5VbRBf pic.twitter.com/gOsHHp02xL

— ASIC Media (@asicmedia) August 17, 2023

Good behavior bonds are typically employed for less serious offenses. In this context, a non-conviction good behavior bond entails that Helio Lending will only be subject to conviction if it violates the conditions of the bond, consequently leading to the payment of the $9,600 fine.

Helio Lending vs ASIC

The ASIC indicated that Helio Lending had falsely asserted its possession of an Australian credit license in a news article on its website back in August 2019. Helio Lending pleaded guilty to this charge, a factor taken into account during the sentencing. Notably, a charge related to a deceptive representation of holding a license on the company’s website was withdrawn.

Helio Lending had been engaged in offering loans backed by cryptocurrency and operates as a subsidiary of Cyios Corporation, a U.S.-based publicly-held company focusing on cryptocurrencies. Cyios Corporation is also the owner of the forthcoming nonfungible token (NFT) platform, Randombly.

The ASIC initiated legal proceedings against the Company in April 2022. In a circulated investor update in late 2018, Helio Lending asserted that it had acquired a license through the acquisition of Cash Flow Investments and its associated license.