The United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has arrested the Trade Coin Club CEO together with his three advocates. They have been prosecuted for allegedly defrauding their clients of Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $300 million. They executed such fraudulent activity through a crypto Ponzi project called Trade Coin Club.
SEC asserted on Friday, November 4, that the crypto Ponzi firm generated 82,000 BTC. The project attracted over 100,000 clients across the globe between 2016 and 2018. The total revenue generated by the company was $295 million during its two years of operation.
The US SEC alleged that Trade Coin Club(TCC) betrayed investors by putting together erroneous promises. The guaranteed 0.35% minimum daily profits were just a plan to attract investors. Also, there was no crypto asset trading bot; instead, the firm utilized a Ponzi technique.
The SEC arraigned the firm’s CEO, Jonathan Tetreault, alongside his three advocates. The advocates include Keleionalani Akana Taylor, Joff Paradise, and Douver Torres Braga. They were all plausible for partaking in multiple marketing programs.
The Agency explained that transaction histories obtained during the investigation revealed Braga’s fraudulent activities. He manipulated TCC to extort investors’ assets that amounted to several millions of dollars and embellished himself. David Hirsch, head of the Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, disclosed this to Cointelegraph.
He said, “the agency will retain the use of blockchain delineation and rational tools to assist us in our investigations. Individuals and firms that commit securities fraud will surely be apprehended. The SEC will ensure that crypto markets are reliable and defensible for all investors”.
In addition to the SEC’s statement, Braga amassed $55 million worth of BTC directly, while Paradise grabbed $1.4 million. Taylor and Tetreault earned $2.6 million and $625,000, respectively, in the process of managing the project
Their Penalties include infringing the federal securities laws outlined in the anti-fraud and securities enrollment requirements. Also, they violated the codes of the broker-dealer enrollment prerequisites. The four suspects were asked to refund the money generated in Trade Coin Club operations.
SEC’s report revealed that the CEO agreed to negotiate the agency charges without conceding or disputing the allegations.
