US Regulatory Authority Charges 4 Perpetrators in a $44M Crypto Scam

With financial scams pouring into the crypto industry, law enforcement agencies have been actively monitoring fraudulent activity in the digital finance environment.

According to an official report issued by the CFTC, New York’s Eastern District Court has charged several individuals involved in a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, stealing over $44 million worth of cryptocurrency investments.

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Three of the people involved were United States citizens, based in Florida, North Carolina, and New York, and one of them resides in India. They were charged with wire fraud, solicitation, asset misappropriation, and are facing up to 20 years in prison.

The CFTC stated that three of the charged persons were running two separate staking platforms named Empowercoin and Ecoinplus. They brought in multiple investors and managed to get away with over $23M worth of BTC. 

Alongside the two platforms, they were supposedly running another alleged scam called Jetcoin, which is still up and running, offering staking services and NFT collections. With this platform, 3 of the charged individuals, alongside an accomplice, have allegedly stolen over $21 million worth of Bitcoin.

The press release claims that the individuals involved in the scheme had misappropriated about $9.8M in BTC through Empowercoin and Ecoinplus, with another $7.8M supposedly gone through Jetcoin.

On March 8th, the three US residents were indicted for wire fraud and money laundering, with another accomplice receiving charges for obstructing justice. Vincent McGonagle, who is the Acting Director of Enforcement, spoke on the individuals charged for these financial crimes, stating:

"This case illustrates how fraudsters never tire of devising schemes to separate people from their hard-earned money, and digital asset frauds are no exception."

Alongside the charges, the CFTC will be looking for "restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations."

Aaron S., Editor-In-Chief

Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.
With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.
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Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.

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