Longfin run by sharks: SEC

Federal regulators seized $27 million in proceeds from the sale of shares of Longfin, a company that claims to use blockchain technology for trading, and was boosted by last year’s bitcoin craze.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Longfin CEO Venkata Meenavalli orchestrated a pump-and-dump scheme when the company’s market value had soared to $3 billion.

The regulators also claim that three business associates, Amro Izzelden “Andy” Altahawi, Dorababu Penumarthi and Suresh Tammineedi, were involved in selling at the inflated valuations.

“We acted quickly to prevent more than $27 million in alleged illicit trading profits from being transferred out of the country,” Robert Cohen, the SEC’s cyber unit chief, said in a statement.

Longfin has been a target for short sellers since its initial public offering in December on Nasdaq — after which it spiked to an intraday high over $140.

“Their office in New York has been empty,” Guy Gentile, the CEO of brokerage SureTrader, which has been shorting the stock, told The Post. “I had someone go there ten times.”

The freeze comes one day after Meenavalli appeared on CNBC to complain that short sellers were dragging down the price of the company.

The company’s shares have been hammered in the last month, falling from $71.10 on March 23, to a low of $9.89 on April 3.

But on Friday, shares of the company spiked 47 percent, to $28.19, before the SEC halted trading in the stock.

“I’m going to write to SEC and FINRA because of the shorts,” Meenavalli said.

LongFin didn’t comment on Friday.