My Big Coin founder Randall Crater convicted for $6 million crypto fraud

Rick Steves

Randall Crater, founder of My Big Coin Pay Inc., has been convicted by a federal jury for defrauding investors by marketing and selling fraudulent virtual currency.

Randall Crater, founder of My Big Coin Pay Inc., has been convicted by a federal jury for defrauding investors by marketing and selling fraudulent virtual currency.

My Big Coin was a purported cryptocurrency and virtual payment services company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, which offered virtual payment services through a fraudulent digital currency, “My Big Coins”.

The token were marketed as a fully functioning cryptocurrency backed by $300 million in gold, oil and other valuable assets. Randall Crater also falsely told investors that My Big Coin had a partnership with MasterCard and that the token could readily be exchanged for government-backed paper currency or other virtual currencies.

None of these claims were true and Randall Crater misappropriated over $6 million of investor funds for his own personal gain, including spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on antiques, artwork and jewelry, the CFTC found.

The scheme operated from 2014 to 2017, the CFTC filed commodity fraud charges against Crater and My Big Coin in January 2018, as well as civil charges against CEO John Roche and two of Crater’s associates Mark Gillespie and Michael Kruger.

The jury found Crater to be guilty of four counts of wire fraud, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison for each count, and three counts of money laundering, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 10 years in prison for each count. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October. 27, 2022.

Earlier this month, the CFTC won the largest Bitcoin fraud case to date, worth $29 million. Financial Tree and individual defendants were found to have misappropriated millions of dollars of funds obtained from investors for personal use, made Ponzi payments to existing pool participants with new pool participants’ funds, and made false statements to explain their failure to return funds and deliver promised profits.

Financial Tree was found to have operated as a Ponzi scheme for years, trading only a small portion of the money taken in and misappropriating the rest – concealing that misappropriation through Ponzi payments, false accounts statements, and other material misrepresentations and omissions to victims of the Financial Tree Fraud.

Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected paid from the CFTC Customer Protection Fund financed through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA.

Read this next

Retail FX

Banxso announces 8.7% interest rate on deposits in South Africa

“With Banxso, they can enjoy the benefits of both worlds – earning competitive interest and having the freedom to trade, all within the same platform.”

Industry News

FINRA to publish transaction details in U.S. Treasury securities

“Consistent with our longstanding practice, FINRA is introducing greater transparency in a calibrated and careful manner, benefiting liquidity and resilience in this critical market while also mitigating potential information leakage concerns.”

Institutional FX

OpenYield launches “cheap and easy” fixed income trading for brokers

“We’re on a mission to make bonds cheap and easy to trade, and are excited about the opportunity to build generational capital markets infrastructure.”

Digital Assets

Sumsub and Mercuryo publish a guide for VASPs: “Mastering Travel Rule Compliance”

“At Sumsub, we’ve concentrated our efforts on filling the gap in understanding the complexity of Travel Rule regulation and helping organizations find the best solution to stay safe and compliant while minimizing costs and avoiding potential risks of non-compliance. This guide we created with Mercuryo, our trusted partner, is the ultimate navigation tool all VASPs can consult.”

Digital Assets

Bitget Wallet Leads with Record Swap Volume & New Crypto Innovations

This week, Bitget Wallet achieved a milestone by surpassing Metamask with a record 388,757 Swap order transactions, securing the global lead. The significant 7-day trading volume, almost 68,000 more than its rival, underscores its liquidity and user trust. This robust activity signals Bitget Wallet’s prominent role and reliability in the dynamic crypto market.

Digital Assets

Embarking on a Digital Currency Journey

Imagine you’ve stumbled upon a treasure map, leading you to untold riches hidden in the vastness of the internet. Instead of gold coins and jewel-encrusted goblets, this treasure comes in the form of digital currencies, the modern-day loot coveted by many.

Reviews

Traders Union Experts Share The Trading Analyst Review For 2024

Navigating options trading in rapidly shifting markets poses a considerable challenge. This is where options trading alert services become invaluable. They aid traders in keeping abreast of evolving opportunities and market trends. In this assessment, Traders Union experts scrutinize The Trading Analyst alert service to ascertain its efficacy. 

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Achieves $9.9M: Aiming For A 5000-Fold ROI As Cardano’s Price Rises And Fantom Launches Sonic

Explore Cardano’s surge, Sonic’s efficiency, and why BlockDAG’s growth makes it the top crypto choice. A deep dive into the future of blockchain investments.

Digital Assets

US, UK probe $20 billion Tether transfers tied to Russian exchange.

U.S. and UK authorities are investigating the movement of $20 billion in the USD-pegged stablecoin tether (USDT) through Moscow-based exchange Garantex.

<