SEC accuses group of Russians of running Ponzi scheme
According to the regulator, Forsage, a cryptocurrency project, has raised more than $300 million “from millions of retail investors worldwide”
02.08.2022 - 08:15
338
1 min
0
What’s new? The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged 11 individuals with organizing and promoting Forsage, “a fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme.” The defendants include four Forsage founders from Russia, Georgia, and Indonesia, as well as three US promoters engaged by the founders to support the company on social media. According to a press release by the SEC, through the fraudulent scheme, Forsage raised more than $300 million “from millions of retail investors worldwide.”
Press release on the SEC’s website
What is known about the charges? According to SEC filings, in January 2020, Vladimir Okhotnikov, Jane Doe aka Lola Ferrari, Mikhail Sergeev, and Sergey Maslakov launched Forsage, a website that allowed retail investors to transact through Ethereum, TRON, and Binance smart contracts. However, payments to early investors were made at the expense of later depositors’ assets, which is a Ponzi scheme and fraud. Dune Analytics estimates that the creators of Forsage attracted about $1,156 billion to the project.
Previously, the Celsius lending platform was accused of running a Ponzi scheme. KeyFi claimed that it lured new depositors with high-interest rates to pay off earlier lenders. Later, a similar lawsuit against Celsius came from investors of the bankrupt platform.
Useful material?
Market
Tether Finance division will be responsible for the issuance and redemption of USDT stablecoins
Apr 18, 2024
Trends
The first project introduced on the platform will be BounceBit (BB)
Apr 18, 2024
Business
The rate exchange of the native ACH token reacted with a 10% increase
Apr 18, 2024
Market
Miners are hunting for the first block after halving as the value of the first satoshi could exceed $1 million
Apr 18, 2024
Market
The platform will be non-custodial and accessible to everyone
Apr 15, 2024
Market
China Asset Management, Harvest Global Investments, and Bosera Asset Management have received permits
Apr 15, 2024