US Indicts 3 for $722 Million Crypto Fraud

The United States authorities have arrested three men for their involvement in a cryptocurrency mining scheme that defrauded investors of $722 million.

According to Tuesday’s announcement by the Justice Department, the three accused are Matthew Brent Goettsche, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel, two of whom are Colorado residents and one from California.

Announcing the arrest, US Attorney Craig Carpenito said: “The indictment describes the defendants’ use of the complex world of cryptocurrency to take advantage of unsuspecting investors.”

“What they allegedly did amounts to little more than a modern, high-tech Ponzi Scheme Ponzi Scheme A Ponzi scheme is a scam that looks to lure investors, ultimately paying profits to earlier investors with funds from more later investors.This form of fraud tricks victims into believing that products are instead generated from product sales or other means. In actuality, most investors are completely oblivious to the actual origin of incoming funds.One of the central attributes of a Ponzi scheme is the necessity of its ongoing nature, which is dependent on a steady flow of new contributions and A Ponzi scheme is a scam that looks to lure investors, ultimately paying profits to earlier investors with funds from more later investors.This form of fraud tricks victims into believing that products are instead generated from product sales or other means. In actuality, most investors are completely oblivious to the actual origin of incoming funds.One of the central attributes of a Ponzi scheme is the necessity of its ongoing nature, which is dependent on a steady flow of new contributions and Read this Term that defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of dollars. Working with our law enforcement partners here and across the country, we will ensure that these scammers are held to account for their crimes.”

Goettsche and Weeks were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud while all three were charged with conspiracy to offer and sell unregistered securities.

A trial will decide the fate

The defendants are facing a $250,000 fine for each charge, and a jail term of 20 years and five years for wire fraud and trading of unregistered securities, respectively.

According to the announcement, the perpetrators ran a scheme called BitClub Network from mid-2014 until their arrest and took money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools. They also rewarded customers for bringing others to the scheme, similar to a multi-level-marketing (MLM) scheme.

Per the law enforcement, the three accused provided false and misleading figures that BitClub investors were told were “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 mining earnings,” purportedly generated by BitClub Network’s bitcoin mining pool.

“Those arrested today are accused of deploying elaborate tactics to lure thousands of victims with promises of large returns on their investments in a bitcoin mining pool, an advanced method of profiting on cryptocurrency,” Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said.