Used CEO of sham crypto miner IcomTech pleads guilty of wire fraud for Ponzi diagram

Marco Ochoa pled guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud within the US District Court docket for the Southern District of Novel York on Sept. 27 in relation to Ponzi diagram perpetrated by IcomTech. Ochoa became as soon as CEO of IcomTech from its founding in 2018 to 2019.

In accordance to a statement from the U.S. Division of Justice, IcomTech promised customers day-to-day returns on funding merchandise supplied by the firm, which alleged to be a crypto mining and shopping and selling firm. Promoters “hosted lavish expos” and diversified community events worldwide to attract customers. The firm additionally issued its personal token, known as an Icom.

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The firm allegedly did no longer mine crypto, however, and customers may perhaps well perhaps possibly no longer withdraw profits they noticed accruing in their accounts. The firm collapsed in unimaginative 2019. Expenses had been introduced in opposition to Ochoa and diversified IcomTech executives in November 2022, and Ochoa faces a most sentence of twenty years in penal advanced. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:

“These days’s guilty plea sends a favorable message that we are coming despite all the pieces of those that glimpse to make essentially the most of cryptocurrency to commit fraud.”

Ochoa’s plea came a day after Pablo Rodriguez, co-founder of the AirBit Membership Ponzi, became as soon as sentenced to 12 years in penal advanced by a special settle within the Southern District of Novel York.

CEO of cryptocurrency Ponzi diagram “IcomTech” pleads guiltyhttps://t.co/ov6BMTZ11K

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) September 27, 2023

Also, on Sept. 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced fees in opposition to Mosaic Alternate and its CEO Sean Michael. Mosaic Alternate allegedly lured customers to enable it to enter into “futures, swaps, and leveraged bellow transactions in cryptocurrency” on their behalf. CFTC commissioner Kristin Johnson said in a statement on the costs:

“Mosaic became as soon as ready to commerce digital asset derivatives on BitMEX and Binance, two platforms that the CFTC has previously charged with, among diversified things, failing to register as an FCM [futures commission merchant], SEF [swap execution facility], or DCM [designated contract market], and failing to place in force anti-cash laundering and know-your-buyer procedures.”

“Primarily based totally on our present authority, the CFTC must delivery introducing regulation to take care of gaps that may perhaps well perhaps also exist in these unique market structures,” she continued.

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