Fake Crypto School Accused of Stealing $860K From Investor

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Fake Crypto Training Center Accused of Stealing $860,000 From Investor

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: June 23, 2025

Key Takeaways

Brian Firestone accused ASITC and CoinBridge of tricking him into losing $860,000 through fake trades and profits;
He claimed that his balance jumped to millions, then vanished after a "system error" blocked a USDT trade in March;
The lawsuit names ASITC, CoinBridge, John Smith, and Raymond Torres, accusing them of fraud and theft.

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A man from Florida claimed that he was tricked into losing $860,000 by a fake crypto training center and crypto exchange, according to a report by The Denver Post on June 21.

In a June 11 lawsuit filed in federal court, Brian Firestone accused the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC) and CoinBridge Partners of working together to make him believe he was earning large profits.

Firestone stated that the scheme began in December 2024, when a man named John Smith from ASITC contacted him with an offer to teach him how to trade crypto and gave him $500 to get started.

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According to the lawsuit, ASITC employed a method known as "signal trading". Firestone said the $500 grew into $55,000, which encouraged him to add $50,000 of his own money in January.

However, one trade dropped his balance to $12,000. Firestone stated that ASITC pushed him to invest more. He sent $470,000 in cash and borrowed another $330,000 from the center.

In March, when he tried to participate in a trade involving USDT USDT $0.9959 , he could not complete the action. He was informed that a system error had occurred, which blocked the trade and erased the entire account balance.

Later, he borrowed an additional $1 million from ASITC and resumed trading. Firestone's new balance showed $6.6 million. When the previous loan came due, he was only able to repay $200,000 in cash. However, ASITC refused to accept cryptocurrency and closed his account on May 1.

The lawsuit accused ASITC, CoinBridge, John Smith, and Raymond Torres, the founder of CoinBridge, of fraud and theft.

A federal judge in Massachusetts recently ordered My Big Coin Pay Inc., My Big Coin Inc., and their former executives to pay nearly $26 million in penalties and restitution. What happened? Read the full story.