The US Stock Exchange Constable, the SEC, has sued an online cryptocurrency lender and its executives accused of defrauding $ 2 billion in investments.
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The BitConnect platform and its founder Satish Kumbhani proposed to invest securities in a loan program that was to pay big, according to the platform.
BitConnect was supposed to use its
"proprietary volatile brokerage robot software"
to grow those deposited funds, an SEC statement said Wednesday.
"Siphoned" funds
However, the SEC claims that instead of using the funds in these investments and exchanges, BitConnect and its executives
"siphoned" them
for their own benefit by transferring them in cryptocurrency to digital wallets in their name and that of the promoter. of their operation, Glenn Arcaro. He was in charge of attracting customers to his website created for the occasion, Future Money. SEC accuses them of
"stealing billions of dollars from individuals around the world by exploiting their interest in cryptocurrencies"
, said Lara Shalov Mehraban, regional director of the SEC in New York.
The SEC complaint accuses the defendants of violating anti-fraud and securities registration provisions imposed by federal law.
It aims to obtain the restitution of entrusted funds, interest and civil sanctions.
The SEC has already signed two out-of-court agreements with five of the defendants.
In a parallel action, the Justice Department said Glenn Arcaro had pleaded guilty in the case.
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