The lawyers cite a loss of “several hundred million euros” for French clients.
More than 2,000 people have filed complaints in recent months in Paris against the managers of the cryptoasset investment platform OmegaPro, which will disappear in 2023, several lawyers announced to AFP on Wednesday.
Asked on Friday, the Paris prosecutor's office indicated that no procedure was underway.
Me Antoine Ory and Elias Bourran indicated in a press release sent to AFP that they had filed a complaint on Tuesday for "more than 1,800 victims" for fraud, breach of trust and deceptive commercial practices by an organized gang, with the Paris judicial court.
They indicate that “more than 3,000 other victims are in the process of compiling their files” and demand “a thorough investigation” concerning “this very large-scale fraud”.
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According to them, OmegaPro, a marketing and networking company registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Caribbean, and established in 2018, promised people returns “of up to 300%.” over a maximum period of 16 months” in exchange for investments in cryptocurrency and active participation in the system via a system of “sponsorships” amounting to the recruitment of relatives.
“This pyramid structure encouraged users to build a network beneath them, where each new sponsored investor contributed to the sponsor's advancement through the ranks of the company,” according to the lawyers.
Although the company enjoyed some success, it began to decline from the end of 2022, leading to a freezing of funds.
On its X account (formerly Twitter), OmegaPro first mentioned technical problems before saying it was the victim of a cyberattack.
Later, rumors spoke of a possible freezing of funds by the American FBI.
The website disappeared in July 2023, without users being able to recover their stake, even if they were offered to reinvest their money in the new Go Global network, responding to a comparable mechanism.
“Only wind”
The Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) had blacklisted OmegaPro in August 2020, notably for its promotion of “unrealistic gains” on Forex, “a risky market”, then launched a new alert in May 2022.
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In December, “250 to 300 plaintiffs” had already filed a complaint in Paris for fraud for “minimal damage estimated at 3.4 million euros”, according to their lawyer Mr. Anthony Bem to AFP.
According to him, the creators of OmegaPro were able to create “confidence indices” so that users of the investment system believe in gains.
“Some did not want to let the train pass” and joined their loved ones who had already invested, even though there was “nothing behind it”, “only wind”.
Several industry observers claim that the OmegaPro platform was used to launder money from another fraudulent cryptocurrency case “OneCoin”, which defrauded its users of several billion dollars between 2014 and 2019.