Kikit & Mess charged with $3.9m FX and Crypto ponzi scheme
The scammer used the money to pay for travel costs, including chartering a private jet, renting a luxury mansion and cars, leasing a luxury automobile, as well as purchasing real estate, according to the CFTC.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has pressed charges against Abner Alejandro Tinoco and his company Kikit & Mess Investments with fraudulent solicitations and misappropriation of over $3.9 million.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge David C. Guaderrama signed an ex parte statutory restraining order freezing assets controlled by the defendants.
The CFTC seeks restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
According to the financial watchdog, Abner Alejandro Tinoco solicited through various channels, including Kikit’s website, more than $3.9 million from at least 61 clients.
The allegedly scammed investors gave the defendants money to manage their trading in customized client portfolios for trading in the foreign exchange markets (forex) and cryptocurrencies.
Instead of managing clients’ funds, Abner Alejandro Tinoco allegedly misappropriated the funds for his personal benefit and paid false “profits” as part of his Ponzi scheme.
The scammer used the money to pay for travel costs, including chartering a private jet, renting a luxury mansion and cars, leasing a luxury automobile, as well as purchasing real estate, according to the CFTC.
The CFTC has a Whistleblower Office that rewards customers and other individuals that report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the Division of Enforcement.
Tips and complaints that directly help the CFTC in their successful charges are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected paid from the Customer Protection Fund financed through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA.
Ponzi schemes are, unfortunately, a dime a dozen. The CFTC has recently fined Craig L. Clavin and his company Lighthouse Futures for a $370,000 ponzi scheme.
The CFTC has also charged a North Carolina couple for running a $1 million Ponzi scheme through their entities Capital Storm, Generation Black, and Ncome.
The couple continues to run their Ponzi scheme, but the court has recently issued an ex parte order freezing assets controlled by the defendants and preserving records.
Still, they continue to solicit clients or prospective clients through in-person solicitations as well as social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, including a website operated by Storm and Elijah Bryant, to induce non-ECP, retail clients to send the defendants funds.
