The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) is following through on its promise to crack down on cryptocurrency fraud. Today, the TSSB ordered Devon Tyler Shigaki and his company TradeMining Inc to cease operations immediately, alleging the Washington resident operates a fraudulent investment tied to cryptocurrency trading software.
In addition to the false representations, the commission contends that Devon personally claimed he has experience of many years in actual trading when in fact he was nothing but a criminal.
Shigaki has been heavily promoting TradeMining as the developer of the best and safest automated cryptocurrency trading app that can help people earn from 0.5 percent up to 2.73 percent a day. He was running the scam from a dedicated site, ‘TradeMining.io’, touting a proprietary crypto trading software called Infinity Trade Engine.
Additionally, Shigaki is accused of concealing his criminal past from potential clients. The probes brought to light financial obligations and criminal pleadings not shared with investors.
Over the past twelve years, he pleaded guilty twice to felony burglary in 2008 and 2009 and was sentenced to serve four months in prison. The Texas order further states that Shigaki was also sued for sabotaging a medicinal cannabis business by hacking into social media accounts. To resolve this case, Shigaki and his co-defendants were hit with a $3 million fine. Also, in 2015, Shigaki was sued by a former business partner and found liable for failing to meet his commitments to a company involved in the resale of gift cards.
Two years later, the serial criminal was charged in another fraud case and served a two-year probated sentence in December 2017.
Washington Regulators Were Involved in the Probes
The complaint alleges that Shigaki solicited customers to open discretionary Bitcoin accounts and offered to trade those accounts through 'Trade Engine' – a fully automated software system that uses API and employs complex metrics to trade Cryptocurrencies .
The long list of Shigaki’s bogus claims included that he works with a 'partner' who maintains the Trade Engine in the Netherlands and that their operations are done through a licensed investment advisor and fiduciary.
Furthermore, the board alleges Trade Engine was perpetuating a multilevel marketing scheme using agents in the United States to sell fraudulent investments to Texans. They hired multilevel marketers to promote its fraudulent investment opportunities by promising them lucrative commissions based on how well they recruit new investors.
The action was part of a coordinated investigation between securities regulators in Texas and Washington states.
