Resolution no. 21455

Suspension, pursuant to article 101, paragraph 4, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998, as a precautionary measure, for a period of ninety days, of the advertising activity carried out by Mr Alberto Simoni including through the Facebookpages: "Alberto Simoni" (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and "Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur" (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale) concerning the public offer of investments of a financial nature promoted by Mindcapital Oü through thehttps://mind.capital website

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (‘Consolidated Law on Finance’) and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, as a result of the supervisory activity carried out by Consob, evidence has been obtained about the fact that the company Mindcapital Oü, based in Tallinn (Estonia), is allegedly offering users the opportunity through its website (https://mind.capital), which is also available in Italian, to use sums of money in the purchase of so-called "MCcoins" and to receive, on a daily basis, a predetermined percentage of the profits resulting from the purchase and/or sale of currencies (crypto and fiat money) that the said Mindcapital Oü claims to carry out;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that "recommended" users are allowed to register with thehttps://mind.capital website and they, in turn, after registering with the site, can achieve additional bonuses by joining the affiliate programme offered on the https://mind.capital website, called "Plan de referidos y bono amigo", in turn procuring new clients;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the evidence acquired the initiative in question appears to be advertised through the Facebook profiles“Alberto Simoni” (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and “Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur” (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale), both linked to Mr Alberto Simoni and available in Italian; In fact, the abovementioned pages contain, among other things, numerous "posts" in which Mr. Alberto Simoni depicts the "Mind.Capital" initiative in glowing terms and reveals the "returns" that Mr. Alberto Simoni allegedly achieves thanks to "Mind.Capital"; there are also posts in the abovementioned Facebook profiles in which Mr. Simoni promotes some online presentations concerning "Mind-Capital";

HAVING ESTABLISHED, in particular, that in both the abovementioned Facebook profiles the following web address is indicated: https://monetizzareoggi.info/. By “Clicking" on this link, the user is redirected to an internetpage written in Italian and entitled "Gonzalo García-Pelayo at the head of mind.capital" where, in addition to a brief biography of "Gonzalo García-Pelayo", there is an electronic button under the heading “Inquire now". Through the abovementioned button the user is routed to the web address: https://mind.capital/it/?referral=1597URnx1V where the Italian language homepageof the "Mind.Capital" websiteis present;

HAVING ESTABLISHED, furthermore, that in the profile named "Alberto Simoni" there are two further weblinks that redirect the user to webpages - with similar content to that described above - from which, through a referral link, the user has access to the homepageof the "Mind.Capital" site. In particular:

- https://safesolution.dazeroamarketer.com: according to the checks carried out there, by "clicking" on that link, the user is redirected to an Internetpage in English where it states that "Alberto Simoni introduces you [...] Gonzalo García-Pelayo heads mind.capital". On the same page, in addition to a short biography of "Gonzalo García-Pelayo", there is a link next to the electronic button "Go Inside". The latter directs the user to the web address: https://mind.capital/en/?referral=1597URnx1V where the English language homepageof the "Mind.Capital" websiteis located;

- http://xn--solucinsegura-glb.dazeroamarketer.com/: through this linkthe user has access to a webpage written in Spanish where it states "Alberto Simoni, the Italian expert in cryptocurrencies and investments, presents them to [...] Gonzalo García- Pelayo leads mind.capital". In the page in question, at the end of a short biography of "Gonzalo García- Pelayo" there is a button (“Enter now! ") that redirects the user to the web address: https://mind.capital/es/?referral=1597URnx1V where the Spanish homepageof the "Mind.Capital" websiteis available.

HAVING ESTABLISHED, furthermore, that by using the referral code contained in the links which, starting from the electronic links indicated above (in particular: “Inquire now" and "Go Inside"), route the user to the homepage of the https://mind.capital website, the user can proceed to register on the https://mind.capital site and that, after completing registration, the user receives emails from Mr. Alberto Simoni himself with which the latter makes himself available to be contacted either by email or through a mobile phone number;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, following registration with the https://mind.capital website, the user may purchase "MCcoins" there and, on the basis of the information indicated on the same website, receive, on a daily basis, a predetermined percentage of the profits resulting from the purchase and/or sale of currencies that Mindcapital Oü claims to carry out;

WHEREAS, consequently, the legal reason for the contract in question may be considered to be the production of a financial return, expressed as a percentage, at pre-established intervals, as consideration for the use of capital transferred by the recipients of this return, who, therefore, transfer their own money with the expectation of profit, namely, the increase in the cash invested, in the presence of a potential financial risk inherent to the type of operations discussed;

CONSIDERING therefore, that, the trading proposal, based on the foregoing, appears to qualify as an "investment of a financial nature";

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that the investment of a financial nature promoted by Mindcapital Oü through its own website, fulfils the criteria to constitute a public offering of financial products defined in article 1, paragraph 1, letter t) of the Consolidated Law on Finance as “any communication made to people, in any form and by any means, that presents sufficient information about the conditions of the offer and the financial products offered so as to render an investor capable of deciding to buy or subscribe such financial products, including placement by means of licensed parties”.

HAVING ESTABLISHED that in the Facebook profiles "Alberto Simoni” (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and "Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur" (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale), information is provided, that is also available on the https://mind.capital website, about the initiatives carried out on the https://mind.capital site and online presentations are promoted concerning the aforementioned operations;

HAVING ESTABLISHED, also, that in the Facebook pages "Alberto Simoni" (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and "Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur" (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale), Mr. Alberto Simoni describes the "Mind.Capital” initiative in glowing terms, as a very lucrative opportunity, and depicts its alleged economic advantages and the substantial absence of risk with expressions that encourage the potential investor to sign up to this proposal ("are you still thinking about it? ", "ask me for info: with each passing day you're just losing money! ", "INCREDIBLEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! This company (Mind Capital) [...] has allowed us Italians to find out what is currently the safest and most profitable system to make part of our savings grow exponentially! [...]");

CONSIDERING, therefore, that Mr Alberto Simoni is carrying out advertising activity through the Facebook pages“Alberto Simoni” (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and “Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur” (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale), aimed at promoting take-up of the offer to the public promoted by Mindcapital Oü;

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED, that the advertising activity is aimed at the public residing in Italy, as the contents of the posts written by Mr Alberto Simoni in the aforesaid Facebook profiles are in Italian;

CONSIDERING that Article 101 of the Consolidated Law on Finance states, in paragraph 2, that: "Prior to the publication of the prospectus is prohibited any form of advertisement concerning public offerings of financial products other than community financial products";

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, in relation to the offering described, the relevant prospectus has not been published;

WHEREAS, therefore, there is a well-founded suspicion that advertising activity concerning the offering to the public residing in Italy of investments of a financial nature is being carried out in breach of the abovementioned law and that such activity is still ongoing;

HAVING REGARD TO article 101, paragraph 4, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which Consob may, with regard to advertising activities, " suspend as a precautionary measure, for a maximum of ninety days, the further dissemination of an advertisement relating to an offer concerning products other than those referred to in paragraph a), in the event of a well-founded suspicion of breach of the provisions envisaged in previous paragraphs or of the related implementation regulations";

WHEREAS, given the existence of the above conditions, there is an urgent need to adopt the measure identified above;

RESOLVES:

That the advertising activity carried out by Mr Alberto Simoni including through the Facebookpages “Alberto Simoni” (https://www.facebook.com/simonialberto1969) and “Alberto Simoni, online entrepreneur” (https://www.facebook.com/AlbertoSimoniFanpageUfficiale), concerning the public offering of investments of a financial nature promoted by Mindcapital Oü through the https://mind.capital website, is suspended, as a precautionary measure, for a period of 90 days.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the person with whom it is concerned and will be published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

July 23, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona