Financial scandal! The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dismantles Cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme and recovers $18 million for victims. All of this, related to an alleged pyramid scheme involving Sam Ikkurty.
In fact, Sam Ikkurty, a resident of the state of Oregon, United States, was accused of defrauding investors through a fake “cryptocurrency hedge fund”, which offered supposedly attractive returns.
Regarding this, according to Ian McGinley, the CFTC’s director of enforcement: “The defendants presented their programs as cutting-edge investments in cryptocurrencies and carbon when in reality they were traditional Ponzi schemes. CFTC staff not only dismantled the defendants’ fraudulent schemes and obtained a monetary judgment of more than $200 million, but also recovered more than $18 million in stolen digital assets that might otherwise have been lost forever.”
For a deeper understanding, a Ponzi scheme is a type of scam named after Carlo Ponzi, an Italian who carried out fraudulent financial activities in the United States and Canada in the early 20th century. The scheme involves attracting investors to a project by promising huge dividends in the short term, but in reality not getting the dividends paid out of the profits generated by the project, but from the money of new investors that is used to pay off the old ones.
CFTC recovers $18 million in cryptocurrency from scammers promising easy fortunes
The case was actually heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and according to the CFTC report, Ikkurty promised huge returns on investments but failed to deliver: the value of the fund fell by 98.9% in a matter of months, using the victims’ assets for his own purposes.
The CFTC also said he failed to inform his investors about these losses and falsely claimed to be an expert in digital assets but only had experience in “consistently losing his personal Bitcoins due to hacking.”
As a result, Judge Mary Rowland ordered Ikkurty and his associates to pay a total of $209,614,892. This also includes $83,757,249 to reimburse defrauded clients, $6,967,285 for illegal profits and about $110 million in penalties.
Ikkurty was also fined more than $14 million for contempt, after the court found that he illegally transferred digital assets from the Receivership Estate while this lawsuit was pending and violated a court order.
Court bans cryptocurrency operations
The order also permanently bans Ikkurty and Jafia, LLC, Ikkurty Capital from:
- Register with the CFTC.
- Trading digital assets or other interests in commodities, also known as raw materials (or basic goods).
- Requesting or accepting funds for the purpose of purchasing digital assets or interests in commodities.
- Engaging in conduct that violates the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.
I close with this phrase from Immanuel Kant: “Justice is what becomes reality when power and reason unite.”
Do you want to always be up to date with the world of cryptocurrencies? Subscribe now to CriptoTendencia’s WhatsApp channel! Here you will instantly receive the most relevant information about Bitcoin, Altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, Blockchain and the Metaverse.
Related
Crypto Keynote USA
For the Latest Crypto News, Follow ©KeynoteUSA on Twitter Or Google News.
