The (CFTC) recently announced that it has filed a complaint in a United States court against four individuals for alleged fraudulent soliciting of funds from customers to speculate in Bitcoin price movements.
According to a statement from the US regulator on Monday, the CFTC filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against Texas residents Mayco Alexis Maldonado Garcia, Cesar Castaneda, and Rodrigo Jose Castro Molina, and Joel Castaneda Garcia who resides in Florida.
The complaint from the CFTC claims that the four individuals falsely represented to clients and potential clients that their business Global Trading Club (GTC) employed ‘master traders’ with years of experience trading cryptocurrencies and used ‘cutting edge trading robots’. They did this from at least August 2016 until October 2017, the authority said.
Furthermore, the CFTC outlined that the defendants claimed that customer earnings would increase if they increased their deposit amounts. Clients were promised a bonus for referring others, in the form of a multi-level marketing scheme, the regulator said in the complaint. To conceal their fraud, the defendants posted misleading trading statements online.
Altogether, the CFTC alleges that the defendants managed to scam at least 27 individuals into depositing at least $989,000 with one or more representatives of GTC.
“The CFTC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s regulations, as charged,” the CFTC said in a statement published on Monday.
CFTC Clamps Down on Alleged FX Scheme
Earlier this month, as , the CFTC charged several allegedly fraudulent forex scheme operators that collectively accepted a minimum of $4.75 million from at least 150 participants.
The court documents filed earlier in September named five companies and their operator: Avinash Singh and his company, Highrise Advantage; Randy Rosseau and his company, Bull Run Advantage; Daniel Cologero and his company, Green Knight Investments; Hemraj Singh and his firm, King Royalty; and lastly Surujpaul Sahdeo and his company, SR&B Investment Enterprises, for soliciting and misusing the funds.
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