A US regulator on Wednesday charged five people with allegedly “fraudulently soliciting” more than 170 people to trade bitcoin and other assets for a company called Icomtech.
The regulator said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint in the Central District Court of California with David Carmona, Juan Arellano Parra, Moses Valdez, David Brandt and Marco A. Ruiz Ochoa – all doing business as Icomtech.
The CFTC said the five embezzled customer funds and specifically “targeted Spanish-speaking communities”.
What happened
The regulator said that from August 2018 to December 2019, five more Icomtech agents “falsely represented that they would use the money to trade bitcoin and other digital asset commodities to clients,” providing returns and within months Will double the money of the customers.
That didn’t happen, the CFTC alleges.
According to the CFTC’s complaint, “Instead, the defendants misappropriated client funds, on information and in good faith, to further the scheme, and to pay personal expenses and pay themselves commissions and bonuses.” “In fact, some Icomtech customers lost all their funds.”
The CFTC said Carmona and Arellano are believed to be in federal custody.
The regulator named bitcoin, ether and USDC as “commodities” in the complaint.
According to the complaint, sometimes hundreds of people attended the different Icomtech promotional events, which were held throughout California.
CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson Likens the Alleged Fraud to an “Old-School Ponzi Scheme” statement,
Johnson said she was committed to raising the alarm about “frauds that target vulnerable investors based on relationships, kinship or other social network connections.”
“As I mentioned earlier, criminals target identified communities because they are familiar with the fears and challenges that may prevent investors from reporting or effectively communicating details of fraud to law enforcement or regulatory authorities. are,” Johnson said.