4 Russian citizens accused of having operated a $ 340 million crypto-ponzi system
4 Russian citizens accused of having operated a $ 340 million crypto-ponzi system
The US authorities throw Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev and Sergey Maslakov-the founders of the dubious cryptocurrency investment platform-to have staged a global snowball system with about 340 million Dollar cheated.
All accused are charged with conspiracy for wire fraud and could be punished with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
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A Grand jury of the federal government in the District of Oregon claims that the founder of Forsage as legitimate matrix project The basis of network marketing and intelligent contracts.
The Russian managers also represented their business as a lucrative investment option, attracting many investors. The deputy prosecutor Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. from the crime department of the Ministry of Justice commented:
"Together with our partners, the department is committed to fitting fraudsters to account, even in the up-and-coming Defi area. Today's indictment shows the ability of the department to use all available investigative instruments, including the blockchain analysis, to use sophisticated fraud To uncover cryptocurrency and digital assets. ”
The authorities emphasized that the accused were organized by the alleged fraud on Ethereum, Binance Smart, Chainund Tron-Blockchains. Other analyzes showed that former investors received funds from newcomers, which is the main principle of a snowball system.
According to investigators, more than 80 % of the forecast users received less ETH than they had invested in the platform's Ethereum program, while half of the investors never received a single payment. The founders are also said to have encoded one of the accounts (known as "XGOLD") so that "100 % of the income goes directly and transparently without risk to the members of the project".
The deputy director Luis Quesada from the FBI criminal police said that progress in the cryptocurrency industry could be a double-edged sword, since bad actors could take advantage of the advantages and unsuspecting victims.
The criminalists asked people to be extremely careful when entering the area of digital assets and to fulfill an adequate duty of care before they transfer funds or pass on personal data to organizations or unknown persons. Okhotnikov, Oblamska, Sergeev and Maslakov, in the event of a guilty verdict, there is a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The US stock exchange supervisory authority calculates last summer, including the four Russian founders. It insisted that the platform was operated as a crypto ponzi system for two years and over $ 300 million was withdrawn from victims. The supervisory authority also sent an injunction to the platform at the end of 2020 and March 2021. Nevertheless, their managers ignored the request and continued to promote their business. Two of the accused agreed to pay forced money and civil law punishment in order to enforce problems with the SEC, and were acquitted from further investigations. . also the SEC has charged