A U.S. Justice Section emblem or seal appearing Justice Section headquarters, referred to as “Main Justice,” is unmistakable at the back of the rostrum within the Section’s headquarters briefing room prior to a information convention with the Legal professional Normal in Washington, January 24, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Federal prosecutors have charged two males in reference to a sprawling cryptocurrency funding scheme that defrauded sufferers out of greater than $650 million.
The indictment, unsealed within the District of Puerto Rico, accuses Michael Shannon Sims, 48, of Georgia and Florida, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57, of Pristine Jersey and Florida, of working and selling OmegaPro, a global crypto multi-level advertising and marketing scheme that promised traders 300% returns over 16 months via foreign currency buying and selling.
“This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime,” stated the Interior Earnings Provider’s Well-known of Felony Investigations Man Ficco. “OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin.”
From 2019 to 2023, Sims, Reynoso and their co-conspirators allegedly lured 1000’s of sufferers international to buy “investment packages” the use of cryptocurrency, falsely claiming the finances could be safely controlled via elite foreign exchange investors, the Section of Justice stated.
Prosecutors stated the pair flaunted their wealth via social media and lavish occasions — together with projecting the OmegaPro emblem onto the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s tallest development — to persuade traders the operation was once professional.
A video posted to the corporate’s LinkedIn web page presentations visitors in night apparel posing for footage and staring at the spectacle in Dubai.
If truth be told, government allege, OmegaPro was once a pyramid-style fraud.
When the corporate after claimed it had suffered a hack, the defendants advised sufferers they’d transferred their finances to a unused platform referred to as Dealer Team, the DOJ stated. Customers had been by no means ready to remove their cash from both platform.
The 2 males face fees of conspiracy to dedicate twine fraud and conspiracy to dedicate cash laundering, each and every sporting a most sentence of two decades in jail.
The Justice Section, FBI, IRS-Felony Investigation, and Place of origin Safety Investigations led the multiagency investigation, with assistance from global companions.
