The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been busy tackling crypto scams this week.

On Thursday, the Justice Department revealed that New Yorker William Ichioka pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges for running a crypto Ponzi scheme.

The same day, the CFTC announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Justby International Auctions. The civil action alleges that the company operated a romance scam that defrauded customers out of over $1.3 million USD.

Man Charged Over $21 Million Crypto Ponzi

The U.S. Attorney’s Office publicized the case against Ichioka for the Northern District of California. In a press release, the prosecutors describe how Ichioka Ventures convinced victims to invest millions of dollars based on false premises.

The Ponzi scheme attracted new investors by faking documents that purported the business was generating impressive returns trading crypto. 

Commenting on the case, a spokesperson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office referred to the often lucrative world of crypto trading. “The allure of using cryptocurrencies to make massive profits in a short timeframe provides fertile ground for fraudsters to take advantage of unwary victims,” said Abraham Simmons.

According to Simmons, Ichioka “convinced victims to invest millions of dollars into his phony venture by claiming he was making legitimate profits when, in fact, he was reporting fake results and creating bogus documents.”

The defendant has pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and is set to appear in Federal court for sentencing. The CFTC said it seeks compe

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Author: James Morales

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