Mining Capital Coin CEO implicated of $62M investment fraud scheme
The CEO and co-founder of crypto mining and financial investment platform Mining Capital Coin (MCC) Luiz Capuci Jr. has been prosecuted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for “allegedly managing a $62 million global financial investment scams scheme.”
The DOJ is charging Capuci with conspiracy to commit wire scams, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to dedicate international cash laundering in relation to several apparently deceitful schemes that were run via MCC. If found guilty, he faces an optimum jail sentence of 45 years.
According to the DOJ’s indictment, Capuci (along with unnamed co-conspirators) is accused of misleading financiers over the profit-bearing capacity of MCC mining bundles and a native token called Capital Coin that was backed by the “greatest cryptocurrency mining operation worldwide.”
As part of the mining plans, Capuci is stated to have touted “substantial earnings and ensured returns by utilizing financiers’ cash to mine new cryptocurrency” but apparently failed to provide on the bargain:
“As declared in the indictment, however, Capuci ran a deceptive investment plan and did not utilize financiers’ funds to mine brand-new cryptocurrency, as promised, but instead diverted the funds to cryptocurrency wallets under his control.”
Capuci is also implicated of marketing dubious MCC trading bots “with brand-new innovation never ever seen before” that could perform “countless trades per second” and generate day-to-day returns for financiers.
“As he did with the Mining Bundles, however, Capuci supposedly operated an investment fraud plan with the Trading Bots and was not, as he guaranteed, using MCC Trading Bots to create income for financiers, however instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators,” the DOJ indictment reads.
Additionally, the MCC CEO and co-founder allegedly recruited MCC promoters and affiliates as part of a multi-level marketing scheme. In return for drawing investors into the MCC community, Capuci is said to have actually promised anything from “Apple watches and iPads to high-end lorries such as a Lamborghini, Porsche” and even his own personal Ferrari.
“Capuci further hid the location and control of the scams proceeds gotten from investors by laundering the funds internationally through numerous foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges.”
The DOJ’s indictment was likewise announced on the same day that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laid out fraud charges versus MCC, co-founder Emerson Pires, Capuci, and 2 entities managed by Capuci in CPTLCoin Corp. (CPTLCoin) and Bitchain Exchanges (Bitchain).
According to the SEC’s complaint, “MCC, Capuci, and Pires offered mining packages to 65,535 investors worldwide and promised everyday returns of 1 percent, paid weekly” over the course of a year.
The SEC declared that investors were at first promised returns in Bitcoin (BTC), however this was subsequently changed to MCC’s Capital Coin (CPTL), which might only be redeemed on “a phony crypto possession trading platform Capuci developed and handled” called Bitchain.
Nevertheless, when it came time for users to withdraw their funds, they were just able to acquire another mining bundle or surrender their funds.
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The SEC declares that Pires and Capuci “netted a minimum of $8.1 million from the sale of the mining packages and $3.2 million in initiation charges.”
“As the problem declares, Capuci and Pires took every chance to extract more money from unwary investors on incorrect guarantees of over-the-top returns and used investor funds raised from this fraudulent scheme to fund a luxurious way of life, consisting of buying Lamborghinis, luxury yachts, and property,” said A. Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC enforcement department’s Crypto Assets and Cyber System.
The SEC also mentioned that the District Court for the Southern District of Florida provided a momentary restraining order versus the offenders last month and an order to freeze their assets.
Published at Mon, 09 Might 2022 04:09:15 +0000
