The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday said it has charged Genesis Global Capital LLC and Gemini Trust Company LLC with illegally selling securities to hundreds of thousands of investors through their cryptocurrency lending programs, Reuters writes.

Genesis, as part of the Digital Currency Group, struck a deal with Gemini in December 2020, offering Gemini customers the opportunity to lend their crypto assets to Genesis in exchange for interest. Since February 2021, they have raised billions of dollars from investors this way. But the SEC believes they violated securities laws by offering and selling cryptoassets through the Gemini Earn platform.

Gemini co-founder and CEO Tyler Winklevoss called the accusation disappointing and said he was waiting for an opportunity to defend himself in court:

“This does nothing to further our efforts or help Earn users recover their assets. This behavior is completely counterproductive,” he said.

In November 2022, Genesis told investors that they could not withdraw their cryptocurrency assets due to a liquidity crisis. At the time, Genesis had about $900 million in assets from 340,000 Gemini Earn investors. So far, investors have not been able to withdraw their assets. Genesis owes creditors more than $3 billion.

Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss on Tuesday publicly called for the resignation of DCG CEO Barry Silbert, accusing him of defrauding creditors and using “underhanded tactics.” DCG called Winklevoss’ accusations false and defamatory.