Eleven people who ran and promoted cryptocurrency firm Forsage face charges of operating a Ponzi scheme that raked in more than $300 million from millions of investors in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to the Commission on Stock Exchange and Securities.
Forsage executives posted videos promising huge returns for investors, with one calling it “a powerful source of long-term passive income” and telling viewers, “Forsage stands for fast and furious.”
But securities regulators alleged that the service’s founders were not providing an investment strategy, but were running a pyramid scheme, where investors made money by recruiting others. Earlier investors were paid with money invested by newer customers, the hallmark of a classic Ponzi scheme.
“Marketed aggressively to investors”
The charges underscore the financial risks of an industry that has taken a good chunk out of it swindlers and swindlersapart from the massif prices fall that cryptocurrencies have experienced this year. In Forsage’s case, the service was created in 2020 targeting retail investors who wanted to make crypto transactions using so-called “smart contracts” that operated on the Ethereum, Tron, and Binance blockchains.
But instead, the scheme operated like a pyramid scheme, with people making money by recruiting new customers to the service, according to the SEC.
Aside from the four founders charged with running a Ponzi scheme, the SEC also charged three US-based promoters hired by Forsage to promote the service, as well as several members of the Crypto Crusaders, a promotional group of the service, the SEC said. .
“As the complaint alleges, Forsage is a fraudulent pyramid scheme launched on a large scale and aggressively marketed to investors,” said Carolyn Welshhans, acting head of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit at the SEC, in a statement.
The four founders are: Vladimir Okhotnikov, Jane Doe (known by her pseudonym Lola Ferrari), Mikhail Sergeev and Sergey Maslakov. Also charged were several Americans who were hired by Forsage to promote the service, including one promoter who claimed to have invested $1,600 and made more than $1 million in seven months, according to the complaint.
The four founders were last known to live in Russia, the Republic of Georgia and Indonesia, the SEC said.
Add Comment