Prosecutors from the United States Justice Department have obtained a guilty plea from a Florida man charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Joshua David Nicholas, 28, was calling the shots on EmpiresX, a platform that claimed to offer “guaranteed returns to investors.”
The scheme led to losses exceeding $100 million from unsuspecting investors within two years of operations, authorities said. Information obtained from court documents revealed that Nicholas and his co-founders allegedly misappropriated investors’ funds to lease a Lamborghini, make payments on a second home, and splurge on several luxury items.
Investors were roped into the fraud through EmpiresX’s claims that they used state-of-the-art bots to make profitable trades, complemented by expert human traders. Lured by the guarantee of daily profits, hundreds of investors sunk in funds, which Nicholas used to pay other investors. Investigations revealed that there was no advanced trading bot and the few trades resulted in massive losses.
Apart from running a Ponzi scheme, the Justice Department noted that EmpiresX was never registered nor took steps to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nicholas faces up to five years in federal prison and will be sentenced at a later date.
“This case should serve as a warning to any individuals who look to illegally capitalize on the perceived ambiguity of the crypto market to take advantage of innocent investors,” said…
