The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicted 17 people for their alleged involvement in a $300 million cryptocurrency-related Ponzi scheme that targeted tens of thousands of primarily Latino investors.
The scheme involved Texas-based CryptoFX LLC and affected 40,000 investors in 10 U.S. states and two other countries, the SEC said Thursday. name.
“We allege that CryptoFX was a $300 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Latino investors with promises of financial freedom and life-changing wealth through ‘risk-free’ and guaranteed cryptocurrency and forex investments,” Gurbir S. Director Grewal said: In a statement, the SEC Enforcement Division. “In the end, the only thing CryptoFX guaranteed was a trail of thousands of victims spanning 10 states and two foreign countries.”
The plan involved salespeople recruiting investors and telling them that Crypto FX’s cryptocurrency and forex trading would bring returns ranging from 15% to 100%. The SEC said most of the $300 million raised was not used for transactions but instead was used to help other investors pay themselves commissions and bonuses and fund their own lifestyles.
One of the defendants used the funds to purchase a $1 million home in Texas, according to the complaint.
The defendants also “engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of CryptoFX investments and acted as unregistered brokers,” it said. complain Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
past activity
Regulators previously took emergency action to halt the scheme in late 2022 and charged its two main leaders, Mauricio Chavez and Giorgio Benvenuto. Eric Werner, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office, said that after filing the lawsuit, the SEC continued its investigation to find other people involved in the scheme.
The two defendant spouses, Gabriel and Dulce Ochoa, continued to solicit investors even after a court ordered a halt to the scheme. According to a statement from the regulator, Gabriel Ocha instructed two investors to withdraw their complaints with the SEC, while another defendant, Maria Saravia, told investors that the SEC’s lawsuit was a sham.
Two of the 17 defendants settled without admitting or denying the SEC’s claims, according to the statement.
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