Three years and some unforgettable memes later, the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that 5 individuals will face charges relating to promoting the Bitconnect Ponzi scheme. “The SEC's complaint alleges that these promoters offered and sold the securities without registering the securities offering with the Commission, and without being registered as broker-dealers with the Commission, as required by the federal securities laws,” the release reads. The promoters, including Trevon Brown, Craig Grant, Ryan Maasen, and Michael Noble are said to have “advertised the merits of investing in BitConnect's lending program to prospective investors, including by creating "testimonial" style videos …

Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an Adjunct Professor at Florida International University School of Law, where he teaches a course on 'Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.' I was downstairs at a bar on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that Thursday evening, December 11, 2008, playing a friendly game of Texas Hold ‘em when the calls began. One after the other they came, and they continued at the office …

The founder of a multi-million crypto Ponzi scheme has escaped paying a $4.5 million penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On March 23, the U.S District Court of Southern Florida initially ordered Jose Angel Aman to pay the SEC more than $4.2 million in disgorgement, and $300,000 in prejudgement interest. However, the court deemed the bill was satisfied that same day due to restitution paid in a parallel case from 2019. According to an emergency order obtained by the SEC in May 2019, Florida-based Aman operated three consecutive Ponzi-schemes which made up a “complicated web of fraudulent companies …

Does Bitcoin meet the definition of a Ponzi scheme? This is the subject of the latest Cointelegraph Crypto Duel, where Bitcoin strategist at Kraken meets professor of computer science at the University of Campinas, Jorge Stolfi. Similar to other Bitcoin skeptics, Stolfi repeatedly defined Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme. The core of his argument is that Bitcoin doesn’t produce any cash flows and the money with which Bitcoin investors are paid comes exclusively from new investors buying Bitcoin. “Every time you invest in Bitcoin, the money that you invest goes to the previous investors or to the miners and disappears”, …

Unsuspecting investors have lost $16 billion by buying into crypto projects they thought would be the next best thing. And that money is nearly impossible to recover. As the crypto industry established itself as a disruptor of currency and technology and as Bitcoin (BTC) began to gain traction in 2017, scammers took advantage of naïve investors interested in getting involved. Related: Crypto Crimes Rated: From the Twitter Hackers to Not Your Keyser, Not Your Coins Spotting the scams The crypto startup market is growing and expanding every day. There are startups working to create alternative banking opportunities, which raise capital …

South African regulators are seeking to exercise more control over cryptocurrency trading following the collapse of what was alleged to be the largest Ponzi scheme the country has ever seen. Self-proclaimed Bitcoin (BTC) trading firm Mirror Trading International was placed in provisional liquidation in December 2020 as investors tried and failed to withdraw their funds. The firm claimed to have attracted over 260,000 memberships worldwide, handling a reported 23,000 Bitcoin — a sum now worth in the region of $716 million. However, an investigation by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority revealed the firm kept no accounting records, nor any kind …

For Jeremy Spence, also known as "Coin Signals," the news just gets worse. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has unveiled civil fraud charges against Spence for his investment scheme, which allegedly suckered investors out of over $5 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) based on false or misleading statements. As Cointelegraph reported, the Department of Justice arrested Spence earlier today on charges of wire fraud and commodities fraud that have maximum sentences of up to 30 years combined. The CFTC's civil complaint looks to return Spence's allegedly ill-gotten gains back to investors and to bar Spence from trading in commodity interest …

United States authorities have brought criminal charges against a crypto trader whom they say defrauded investors out of over $5 million. The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it had arrested Jeremy Spence. Between 2017 and 2019, 24-year-old Spence operated a crypto investment scheme under the name "Coin Signals," primarily via Twitter and Discord. The announcement quoted Federal Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney as saying: “As alleged, Jeremy Spence misrepresented the success of his investment platform in order to entice people to send money his way. Because his trading was less than profitable and significantly less successful …

According to court reports from Friday, yet another suspected player behind the OneCoin ponzi scheme is now set to face justice. On Friday, counsel for marketing guru Karl Sebastian Greenwood and US prosecutors informed Manhattan Judge Edgardo Ramos that the two sides are currently discussing a plea deal for Greenwood, who was indicted in 2018 for charges relating to his involvement in the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. Greenwood — who is currently facing five charges including money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy — was described in previous civil litigation as the “public face of OneCoin.” Greenwood was responsible for pitching OneCoin and …

Dissolved limited liability company Crypto Traders Management is seeing its legal troubles multiply. Per a Friday legal filing in Utah, CTM and its former manager Shawn Cutting are trying to fight off a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is apparently demanding financial data from Cutting — specifically, all of the transaction information from his Wells Fargo accounts as well as his communications with the bank. Cutting is trying to quash the SEC's request by pleading a right to financial privacy. Back in July, former investors in CTM filed a civil suit accusing the firm of selling …

Per a Monday announcement, the United States Department of Justice and the Southern District of New York have extradited from Panama a leader of alleged Ponzi scheme AirBit Club. Gutemberg Dos Santos is one of six operators of AirBit Club indicted, and the last to come into the U.S. to face trial before the SDNY. Dos Santos is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. Authorities initially apprehended five of the six back in August, with a sixth avoiding authorities until October. The DoJ alleges that AirBit Club sold "memberships" that promised guaranteed returns. The six operators marketed …

In the midst of the crippling price dips earlier this week, cryptocurrency traders seemed beset on all sides by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. However, Dermot McGrath, head of research at blockchain investment firm Sino Global Capital, said the firm prefers taking a long term view. Shortly after a Thanksgiving Bitcoin dip to $16,200, news broke that the Chinese government had seized $4.2 billion in cryptocurrencies as part of the Plustoken Ponzi scheme court proceedings. Rumors swirled that those tokens were poised to be dumped on the open market, crashing prices further. However, Sino Global CEO Matthew Graham wrote on Twitter …