Two people were found guilty of promoting the IcomTech cryptocurrency pyramid scheme

[Teacher]

A New York jury found two former promoters of the IcomTech cryptocurrency pyramid scheme guilty of conspiracy to use electronic means of fraud. This is reported by the US Department of Justice.

According to the case file, Gustavo Rodriguez has been creating a website for IcomTech, which positioned itself as a mining and trading company, since mid-2018. David Brand, together with the founders of the project, attracted customers, guaranteeing daily profit.

In reality, IcomTech worked on the principle of a Ponzi scheme, paying dividends from deposits of new users. Most of the funds were used to buy real estate, travel and conduct "luxury presentations".

Clients saw an increase in funds through their personal account, but they could not withdraw them from the platform.

As complaints grew, IcomTech introduced the native Icoms token, but this only resulted in additional losses.

By the end of 2019, the pyramid collapsed.

According to the prosecutor's office, in total, "tens of thousands of people with damage worth tens of millions of dollars" suffered from IcomTech activities.

Brand and Rodriguez will be sentenced on June 27 and 28, respectively. They face up to 20 years in prison.

Also awaiting the final hearing of his case is the founder of the scheme, David Carmona, who pleaded guilty at the end of last year.

Former IcomTech executive Marco Ruiz Ochoa was sentenced to five years in prison. He confessed to defrauding investors in September 2023.

• Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/p...cipating-cryptocurrency-ponzi-scheme-icomtech

 

[Tomcat]

Juan Tacuri, one of the main organizers of the cryptocurrency scheme Forcount, which raised about $8.4 million from Spanish-speaking investors around the world, pleaded guilty to fraud.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that 46-year-old resident of Florida Juan Tacuri (Juan Tacuri) pleaded guilty to one count of fraud with the use of electronic means of communication. The man faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Takuri agreed to return $4 million to his victims, as well as real estate purchased with investors ' funds.

Takuri and other Forc Account promoters have guaranteed investors that their investment will double within six months. Prosecutors allege that Thakuri traveled around the United States, arranging luxury exhibitions to find new investors, luring them with promises of "financial freedom." Later it turned out that the firm Forcount never engaged in mining and cryptotrading. Takuri and his partners used the money of new investors to pay early investors, and also squandered the money raised on real estate and a luxurious lifestyle.

In 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Thakuri and three other participants in the scheme with violating securities laws. In the same year, the US Department of Justice accused several citizens of organizing fraudulent IcomTech and Forcount cryptos, known as Weltsys, and money laundering. Thakuri's trial is scheduled for September 24 in New York. The verdict should be passed by District Judge Analisa Torres (Analisa Torres), who oversees the SEC's lawsuit against the Ripple crypto company.