The CEO and co-founder of crypto mining and funding platform Mining Capital Coin (MCC) Luiz Capuci Jr. has been indicted by the Division of Justice (DOJ) for “allegedly orchestrating a $62 million international funding fraud scheme.”
The DOJ is charging Capuci with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit worldwide cash laundering in relation to a number of allegedly fraudulent schemes that have been run by way of MCC. If discovered responsible, he faces a most jail sentence of 45 years.
In keeping with the DOJ’s indictment, Capuci (alongside unnamed co-conspirators) is accused of deceptive buyers over the profit-bearing potential of MCC mining packages and a local token dubbed Capital Coin that was backed by the “greatest cryptocurrency mining operation on this planet.”
As a part of the mining packages, Capuci is claimed to have touted “substantial income and assured returns by utilizing buyers’ cash to mine new cryptocurrency” however allegedly did not ship on the cut price:
“As alleged within the indictment, nonetheless, Capuci operated a fraudulent funding scheme and didn’t use buyers’ funds to mine new cryptocurrency, as promised, however as an alternative diverted the funds to cryptocurrency wallets underneath his management.”
Capuci can be accused of selling doubtful MCC buying and selling bots “with new know-how by no means seen earlier than” that might conduct “1000’s of trades per second “ and generate day by day returns for buyers.
“As he did with the Mining Packages, nonetheless, Capuci allegedly operated an funding fraud scheme with the Buying and selling Bots and was not, as he promised, utilizing MCC Buying and selling Bots to generate earnings for buyers, however as an alternative was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators,” the DOJ indictment reads.
Moreover, the MCC CEO and co-founder allegedly recruited MCC promoters and associates as a part of a multi-level advertising scheme. In return for luring buyers into the MCC ecosystem, Capuci is claimed to have promised something from “Apple watches and iPads to luxurious autos akin to a Lamborghini, Porsche” and even his personal private Ferrari.
“Capuci additional hid the situation and management of the fraud proceeds obtained from buyers by laundering the funds internationally by varied foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges.”
The DOJ’s indictment was additionally introduced on the identical day that the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) outlined fraud prices towards MCC, co-founder Emerson Pires, Capuci, and two entities managed by Capuci in CPTLCoin Corp. (CPTLCoin) and Bitchain Exchanges (Bitchain).
In keeping with the SEC’s grievance, “MCC, Capuci, and Pires offered mining packages to 65,535 buyers worldwide and promised day by day returns of 1 p.c, paid weekly” over the course of a yr.
The SEC alleged that buyers have been initially promised returns in Bitcoin (BTC), nonetheless this was subsequently modified to MCC’s Capital Coin (CPTL), which might solely be redeemed on “a pretend crypto asset buying and selling platform Capuci created and managed” referred to as Bitchain.
Nevertheless, when it got here time for customers to withdraw their funds, they have been solely in a position to buy one other mining package deal or forfeit their funds.
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The SEC alleges that Pires and Capuci “netted a minimum of $8.1 million from the sale of the mining packages and $3.2 million in initiation charges.”
“Because the grievance alleges, Capuci and Pires took each alternative to extract more cash from unsuspecting buyers on false guarantees of outlandish returns and used investor funds raised from this fraudulent scheme to fund a lavish life-style, together with buying Lamborghinis, yachts, and actual property,” mentioned A. Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC enforcement division’s Crypto Belongings and Cyber Unit.
The SEC additionally said that the District Court docket for the Southern District of Florida issued a short lived restraining order towards the defendants final month and an order to freeze their property.
