The infamous fraud scheme operated from 2016 to 2018 only, but it still managed to collect $2.4 billion from gullible victims before pulling the rug from under their feet.
According to the press release by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on January 12, The United States District Court for the Southern District of California ordered the restitution for the damages the scam scheme has caused.
The ‘massive cryptocurrency scheme’, according to the press release, was nothing else but a ‘textbook Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors.’
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The press release states:
A federal district court in San Diego ordered today that over $17 million in restitution be distributed to approximately 800 victims from over 40 different countries due to their investment losses in Bitconnect, a massive cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded thousands of investors worldwide
The massive scam got famous not only for how much money they’ve managed to steal, but also thanks to the meme videos that spread like wildfire after Carlos Matos, a notorious BitConnect spokesperson, presented the scheme in an overzealous manner.
Glenn Arcaro, the central figure of BitConnect promotion, pleaded guilty to the scheme-related accusations on September 16, 2021. Satish Kumbhani, the founder of the scheme, was indicted for organizing the fraud on February 25, 2022.
The BitConnect founder has only been indicted because he’s on the run, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Nevertheless, in case of him being located and arrested, he would be facing 70 years in prison.
