Authorities in the U.S. have charged 11 people, including a group of promoters known as the ‘Crypto Crusaders’, over an alleged US$300 million global blockchain scam.
Despite early concerns over its operations, Forsage promoted an alleged pyramid-Ponzi scheme via YouTube and other online platforms for two years. (Photo: Forsage/YouTube, Screenshot, License)A Securities and Exchange Commission complaint, announced Monday, accused crypto platform Forsage of raising money via allegedly fraudulent means from millions of victims around the world.
Investors were purportedly told they could earn profits by recruiting others to the operation, a characteristic of pyramid schemes, while assets from new investors were also used to pay earlier investors, as typical of a Ponzi structure.
Those named in the SEC’s recent complaint include Forsage’s four co-founders: Russian nationals Vladimir Okhotnikov, Mikail Sergeev, Sergey Maslakov, and a woman known only by the name ‘Lola Ferrari.’
The “face of the operation”, Okhotnikov is believed to reside in Tbilisi, Georgia, with Sergeev and Maslakov thought to be living in Russia. Investigators maintain that Ferrari, the platform’s self-proclaimed “goddess”, is currently based in Bali, Indonesia.
The SEC also charged several members of the scheme’s largest promotional group, the so-called ‘Crypto Crusaders’, who operated across at least five different U.S. states. Two have agreed to settle charges and desist from…
