Court for the Southern District of New York concluded its consideration of the first case in the history of the financial pyramid, built using Bitcoin. The main defendant in the case Trendon Shavers sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
It is reported by Reuters.
Additionally, he was sentenced to three years supervision after release, the payment of a special tax of $ 100 and a $ 1.2 million non-return of collateral, as well as damages in the amount of $ 1.2 million.
Announced the verdict put an end to a case that began in July 2013, when Shavers were charged with defrauding investors by means of investment service Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BCS & T). Shavers offers service was subsequently recognized as a pyramid scheme.
The charges included securities fraud and fraud using electronic means of communication, that collectively threatened Shavers 40-year prison sentence. But in 2015 the defendant went to deal with justice, than lowered the maximum possible sentence of up to 41 months.
In the course of the proceedings the prosecutor of the Southern Federal Judicial District of New York Preet Bharara said that the case is an example of the use of new technologies in the commission of illegal acts.
"Applying new features to the old fraudulent schemes, Trendon Shavers bitcoin used to run a classic Ponzi scheme. Shavers attracted money, promising an impressive profit and giving the personal guarantee of this, although in reality only pay old investors at the expense of the new ", - said the prosecutor.
In the final speech Shavers pleaded guilty.
"I made a catastrophic mistake. I do not think that ever'll be able to forget about it, "- said the defendant.
In September 2014 Shavers has been fined $ 40.7 million, as a defendant in a civil lawsuit. A few months later he was arrested.
The prosecutor's office in New York said that as a result of their actions Trendon Shavers seized 146 thousand bitcoins. At the time of the offense the cost was $ 807,000., And at the time of the verdict reached $ 97 million.
Recall, in 2015 the district prosecutor's office in New York has closed 73 of fraudulent sites related to Bitcoin. Then undercover prosecutors failed to establish fraudulent sites owned by the company YouYou Finance. Most of these sites offer an unusually high return on bitcoin deposits.
I upvoted You
Straight to club fed for running the scam. I don't know why people try that stuff. I almost think that people thought they could defraud people because Bitcoin wasn't fiat. It is like they never thought that it would be just like going to someones house and taking a chest full of gold. I just did a post on Bitcoin. I just made a post about this. Please consider upvoting me. I just upvoted you! https://steemit.com/steem/@brianphobos/linux-distributions-aren-t-confusing-but-crypto-forks-are-why-is-that