Bitcoin News and Finance
SEC Halts $62 Million Crypto Mining, Trading Scheme — DOJ Indicts Founder Skip to main content

SEC Halts $62 Million Crypto Mining, Trading Scheme — DOJ Indicts Founder

SEC Halts $62 Million 'Mining Capital Coin' Crypto Scheme — DOJ Indicts Founder

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has halted a $62 million global cryptocurrency trading and mining scheme and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted its CEO and founder. If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum total penalty of 45 years in prison, the Justice Department.

SEC Halts $62M Global Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday that it has halted a fraudulent crypto mining and trading scheme.

The SEC charged MCC International (aka Mining Capital Coin), its founders (Luiz Carlos Capuci Jr. and Emerson Souza Pires), and two entities controlled by them. The charges are “in connection with the unregistered offerings and fraudulent sales of investment plans called mining packages to thousands of investors,” the agency noted.

The securities watchdog detailed that since at least January 2018:

MCC, Capuci, and Pires sold mining packages to 65,535 investors worldwide and promised daily returns of 1 percent, paid weekly, for a period of up to 52 weeks.

The complaint also alleges that MCC investors were initially promised returns in bitcoin (BTC). However, the defendants later “required investors to withdraw their investments in tokens called capital coin (CPTL), which was MCC’s own token.”

DOJ Charges MCC’s Founder and CEO

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also independently announced Friday that Capuci, the founder and CEO of MCC, a purported cryptocurrency mining and investment platform, has been indicted in a $62 million global cryptocurrency fraud scheme.

Capuci of Port St. Lucie, Florida, misled investors about his platform’s cryptocurrency mining and investment program, luring them to invest in MCC’s “mining packages,” the DOJ described. He and his co-conspirators claimed that MCC had an international network of cryptocurrency mining machines that could generate “substantial profits and guaranteed returns” for investors.

They also touted MCC’s own cryptocurrency as a purported decentralized autonomous organization that was “stabilized by revenue from the biggest cryptocurrency mining operation in the world,” the DOJ added, noting:

However, Capuci operated a fraudulent investment scheme and did not use investors’ funds to mine new cryptocurrency, as promised, but instead diverted the funds to cryptocurrency wallets under his control.

The indictment further alleges that Capuci touted and fraudulently marketed MCC’s purported “trading bots” as an additional investment mechanism to help investors profit in the cryptocurrency market.

The MCC founder also allegedly recruited promoters and affiliates to promote MCC in a pyramid scheme, the DOJ said, adding that he further concealed the location and control of the fraud proceeds by laundering the funds through various foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges. The Justice Department added:

Capuci is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum total penalty of 45 years in prison.

What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory