Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg waves at NYU Law School on Monday, Feb. 5th, 2018. Photo credit: David Handschuh

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former U.S. Solicitors General Theodore Olson, Seth Waxman and Paul Clement have an obvious professional connection but never one as legal overseer for an online company promoting cryptocurrency investments in Texas.

The Texas State Securities Board this week sent a cease-and-desist letter to a company called LeadInvest, which allegedly was using a photograph of the justice and the lawyers, including former deputy Solicitor General Maureen Mahoney of Latham & Watkins, as its “CodeOfEthics Association.” LeadInvest billed itself as a technology company developing trading software for cryptocurrency markets, according to the Texas state board.

Among six counts—with multiple subparts—of misleading and deceptive statements listed in the board's letter was this eye-popping one:

“Respondent LEADINVEST is claiming that the 'CodeOfEthics [sic] Association' is responsible for contract law, due diligence and corporate law, and it is providing a photograph that purports to portray the members of 'CodeOfEthics [sic] Association.' Respondent LEADINVEST is not telling investors that the photograph of the members of the 'CodeOfEthics [sic] Association' actually depicts former Deputy Solicitor General Maureen Mahoney, former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, and former Solicitor General Seth Waxman.”

The state board accused the company of failing to tell investors that the photograph was the same one that ran in a 2005 article about a George Washington School of Law event titled “Symposium Honors Rehnquist's Legacy/Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Delivers Keynote Address.” The law school owns the image and did not give permission to LeadInvest to use it, according to the board. O'Melveny & Myers partner Walter Dellinger also appeared in the photograph.

The Texas securities board said George Washington law school had not given LeadInvest permission to use the photo.

Olson, who leads the Supreme Court and appellate practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and was U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, told The National Law Journal that the company's name-drop of him was obviously “all bogus.” He also disclaimed any in-depth understanding of cryptocurrency: “Especially at my age, I'm giving a wide berth to anything involving crypts.”

Kirkland & Ellis partner Clement had a similar reaction.

Paul Clement

“What a hoot!” said Clement, solicitor general in the second term of the George W. Bush administration. “I am not into cryptocurrency—I generally try to avoid things that start with crypto. That said, I have been known to attend a gathering of former SGs from time to time.”

Mahoney, a retired partner in Latham's Supreme Court and appellate practice, served as deputy solicitor general from 1991 to 1993. Waxman, co-chair of the appellate and Supreme Court litigation practice at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, was solicitor general in the Clinton administration from 1997 through 2001. Neither Mahoney nor Waxman was available to comment.

Other photographs on the LeadInvest website, according to the Texas securities board, featured images of lawyers at firms in California and North Carolina that had no affiliation with the crypto company.

The Texas board's cease-and-desist letter was addressed to a web hosting company with a P.O. Box in Panama. A contact there was not immediately found. The LeadInvest website redirects to another cryptocurrency site that disclaims there is no single owner or entity. LeadInvest has 31 days to request a hearing at the Texas securities board. Any failure to request a hearing results in the agency's order becoming final.

Joe Rotunda, director of enforcement for the Texas securities board, told the San Antonio Express-News that the agency is receiving a number of consumer complaints about fraudulent cryptocurrency products.

“I think a lot of it comes out to being a product of the internet, where anyone can be anonymous. Anyone can kind of put up anything on the internet,” Rotunda told the Express-News. “And that includes pictures of a Supreme Court justice, and former solicitors general and attorneys who are completely unrelated to the offer and sale of cryptocurrency investments. It's brazen, it's threatening, it's hurt a lot of people.”

The Texas State Securities Board order is posted below: