$7 Million Crypto Fraud to Plead Guilty in the US

Jon Barry Thompson, the accused of a $7 million cryptocurrency fraud, is expected to plead guilty for the charges brought against him by the United States prosecutors.

In a letter submitted to the court, the prosecutors wrote: “The parties expect to reach a disposition of this matter and respectfully request that the court set a control date in September 2020 for the entry of that disposition.”

This came following a hint dropped by Peggy Cross-Goldenberg, the counsel of Thompson, in April about “substantial progress” being made towards a deposition.

Defrauding clients by making false claims

Thompson was the principal of Volantis, a cryptocurrency escrow company, and accused of defrauding multiple customers with fraudulent schemes involving over $7 million.

Per the US prosecutors, he took $3 million from one of his clients between June and July 2018 after falsely assuring that the Bitcoins were held by Volantis. However, Thompson failed to deliver any digital asset to the victim and stalled the client for days.

He also showed false account statements to the client and sent the money to a third-party entity purportedly in Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term for Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term without first receiving any of the Bitcoin. The victim never received any digital asset or was refunded.

Thompson also received another $4 million from another client and never delivered the Bitcoins or returned the money, making false claims about the whereabouts.

Arrested last year, the prosecutors charged him with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of commodities fraud. Thompson is looking at a maximum prison time of 60 years - 20 years for each wire fraud and 10 years each for commodities fraud.

He is currently out on bail after paying a bond of $500,000.

The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also brought civil charges against Volantis.