The founder of an online crypto course targeted his students to get them to invest in a crypto hedge fund he said would use artificial intelligence to generate returns, according to charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The founder, who had held onto investors' money in bitcoin, subsequently lost those funds after his digital wallet was hacked, the SEC said in a statement on Friday. The agency charged American Bitcoin Academy founder Brian Sewell, 51, and his firm Rockwell Capital Management with fraud, resulting in a settlement without either admitting or denying the charges. 

Sewell encouraged his students to invest in the Rockwell Fund, the hedge fund he said would use AI and crypto related trading strategies to generate returns. Sewell received about …