A federal jury has convicted the founder of “My Big Coin” in a fraudulent scheme that swindled $6 million from cryptocurrency investors. He claimed that coins had been backed with gold, and that Mastercard was a partner in the business.
My Big Coin’s Founder Convicted
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), announced Thursday that Randall Crater was found guilty in cryptocurrency fraud schemes. The DOJ claimed that the 51-year old East Hampton resident defrauded more than $6,000,000 from investors.
Crater has been “convicted of four counts of wire fraud, three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business,” the Justice Department detailed.
Eric Shen is the U.S. Inspector in Charge. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group who worked on the case, commented:
He preyed upon victims by presenting an unstoppable increase in cryptocurrency value, but in fact investors were funding his extravagant lifestyle.
The defendant spent the fraudulently obtained funds on “luxury items for himself, including artwork, antiques, and jewelry,” the DOJ said.
My Big Coin was advertised to crypto investors in the period 2014-2017. “Crater and his associates falsely claimed that [the] coins were a fully functioning cryptocurrency backed by $300 million in gold, oil and other valuable assets.” They further claimed that “My Big Coin has a partnership with Mastercard and that [the] coins could readily be exchanged for government-backed paper currency or other virtual currencies.” However, the Justice Department emphasized:
Realism is not so bad. [the]Coins were not secured by gold or other valuable assets and could not be easily transferred.
Crater, My Big Coin were also charged by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in January 2018.
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