The US Department of Justice revealed a major crackdown on cryptocurrency scams, bringing criminal charges against six individuals in relation to various antitrust hacking schemes. The largest case in this history sees the owner of a crypto-investment platform facing up to 115 years in prison, with many being threatened with more jail time than any other.
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According to the Department of Justice, the multiple crypto and NFT schemes cost investors more than $100 million. Six people are facing charges in 4 separate cases. The department says it will use every tool to solve fraud-planning projects.
Attached to: Axie Infinity is a Classic Example Of Whats To Come For NFT Games.
The proprietor of the Investment Center Circle Society faces the most serious charges, a fine of up to 115 years in prison (thanks. Web3 is going great). Saffron is accused of falsely claiming that his trading bot would net 500 to 600 percent of its profits. He accused himself of misrepresenting his own personal success, while he continued to travel for a security purpose, allowing his own to “create false appearances of wealth”.
Saffron was arrested on a count of wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of commodity fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice.
Another case involves a NFT project called the Baller Ape Club. One of the organizers, Le Anh Tuan, is alleged to have pulled the rug on the project after just a day of sales, leaving the investors with useless cartoon apes. Tuan is also accused of laundering the cash made from the first-day sales and which was approximately 2,6 million dollars. Tuan is facing up to 40 years in prison.
A further three individuals, Emerson Pires, Flavio Goncalves, and Joshua David Nicholas, face up to 45 years in prison, or 25 years in Nicholas’ case. This is due to money laundering in relation to the Ponzi Scheme alleged to be an empiresX. The trio are said to have made 100 million dollars from allegedly misleading investors.
Finally, a leading developer of Titanium, Alan Stollery, faces 20 years in jail. Stollery was accused of tampering $11 million in fraudulent investors, which he claimed had partnerships with Apple, Pfizer, Disney and so on.
It is still unclear how these cases turn out and how the government will deal with this increasing trend. It remains to be seen whether this news is enough to stop game companies rushing into NFTs and crypto.
