An Ohio resident who ran a $12 million Ponzi scheme involving bitcoin has been fined by the US Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC). According to a complaint filed by the CFTC at a district court in the state on Thursday, the man ran the fraud to pay for his expensive lifestyle.
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment practice in which initial investors are compensated with money derived from later ones. The CFTC announced on Friday that Rathnakishore Giri, of New Albany, Ohio, had posed as a successful cryptocurrency trader.
He then apparently convinced over 150 would-be investors to give him $12 million in cash, plus at least 10 Bitcoins worth about $240,326 today.
CFTC presses Ponzi scheme charges against an Ohio resident
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of Ohio, targets one Rathnakishore Giri and his two firms: SR Private Equity LLC and NBD Eidetic Capital LLC. The CFTC also wants Giri to reimburse his investors for their losses.
According to CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson, Giri is accused of orchestrating and sustaining a fraud that targeted investors interested in digital assets.
Under the guise that he operated a private equity investment fund with a focus on investing in digital assets, Giri seized upon the contemporary fervor for digital asset investment opportunities and lured unwitting investors to contribute over $12 million in cash and bitcoins to his funds with the promise of exceptional returns without the risk of…
