SEC charges four people for alleged $295M bitcoin Ponzi scheme
BTC-USD +3.15%Nov. 04, 2022 5:36 PM ET5 CommentsThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging four people for allegedly operating a $295M bitcoin (BTC-USD) Ponzi scheme, the agency said Friday.
Douver Torres Braga, Joff Paradise, Keleionalani Akana Taylor and Jonathan Tetreault all have been charged by the SEC for their roles in Trade Coin Club, a multi-level market program that raised more than 82K bitcoins (BTC-USD) from over 100K investors.
Braga, who created and controlled the MLM program that operated from 2016 through 2018, had allegedly promised investors that they can earn minimum daily returns of 0.35% through a trading bot; instead, he used investors' deposits to pay himself along with TCC promoters Paradise, Taylor, and Tetreault.
“We allege that Braga used Trade Coin Club to steal hundreds of millions from investors around the world and enrich himself by exploiting their interest in investing in digital assets,” said David Hirsch, chief of the Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit.
The charges filed against the founding members included a breach of antifraud and securities registration provisions, as well as a violation of broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws. Overall, the compliant seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil penalties, the SEC said.
Tetreault agreed to settle the SEC’s charges without admitting or denying the allegations.
Crypto "Ponzi schemes" are far from a new development in the eyes of the SEC and other financial watchdogs. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, for instance, took aim at 11 crypto-focused firms in September for allegedly breaching state securities laws.
