ICO of USD $ 25 million backed by Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled was a fraud, its founder supports
By Hannah Pérez The co -founder of the cryptographic project Center Techan ICO launched in 2017 that gathered USD $ 25 million thanks to the support of celebrities such as Floyd Mayweather, declared fraud guilty before the US court.
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The co -founder of the cryptographic project Center TechRobert Farkas, declared himself guilty for its participation in a multimillionaire fraud scheme that operated through an initial currency offer (ICO).
Center Techbased in Miami, announced in 2017 the launch of an ICO that gathered USD $ 25 million and that He had the support of celebrities such as Boxer Floyd Mayweather and the musical producer, DJ Khaled. To launch its ICO, the company promised the development of a card called “CENTRA CARD”Supposedly issued by Visa either Mastercard.
At that time, the company claimed to have 38 state licenses for the transmission of money. To give credibility to the project, they also invented a general director of the company who, alleged, had attended Harvard. However, yesterday, Federal Prosecutors of the United States revealed in a statement that none of the postulates of Center Tech It was true.
Initially, the US Stock Exchange and Securities Commission (SEC) had suspended the ICO campaign in 2018 for considering it fraudulent.
ICO of USD $ 25 million backed by Mayweather was a fraud
According to a report by the US Department of Justice, Robert Farkas, 33, admitted that he and the co -founders of Center TechSohrab Sharma and Raymond Trapani, They misrepresented the true purpose of the project while working to deceive investors.
This Tuesday, Farkas declared himself guilty of conspiring to commit values and electronic fraud related to a digital investment scheme which cheated the victims for a sum of USD $ 25 million. As read in the official statement that cites Craig Stewart, lawyer of the United States:
“Farkas and his co-conspirators deceived ICO investors to invest in digital currency worth millions of dollars based on fictional statements about their company; including false statements related to their alleged digital technologies and their relationships with legitimate businesses in the financial services sector“
The report also indicates that, between May and October 2018, the Department of Justice and the Federal Office of Investigations (FBI) seized the sum of ETH 100,000 (around USD $ 23.5 million for the time of writing) consisting of digital funds collected from victims who participated in the ICO.
While the sentence date has not yet been announced, The co -founder of Center Tech He declared himself guilty of two positions, each of which entails a maximum penalty of five years in prison. According to the medium BloombergFarkas accepted a guilt declaration agreement whose sentence is established between 70 and 87 months with a fine of up to USD $ 250,000.
Celebrities previously paid the fine
The fraudulent cryptographic investment campaign of Center Tech It began to operate between July and October 2017. By the end of that same year, the company had already received the demand for project investors who claimed that Center Tech had violated stock laws when it raised more than USD $ 30 million through the investment campaign in Token.
In 2018, the SEC began its own complaint claiming the same. Subsequently in May of that year, the three founders received federal positions after the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York accused them of fraud. For their part, the celebrities involved in the scam could find a resolution before the charges.
Despite having called on their fans to participate in the investment, in November 2018, Mayweather and Khaled resulted in the positions of the SEC for not having revealed the payments they received for their ICO promotion. Then, Mayweather agreed to pay USD $ 300,000 in restitution; as well as a sum of USD $ 300,000 in fines and USD $ 14,775 in prejudice interests. While Khaled would pay USD $ 50,000 in returnUSD $ 100,000 in fines and USD $ 2,725 in prejudice interests.
Likewise, both celebrities were forbidden to participate in the promotion or campaign of “any value, digital or other“, Over the next few years.
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Sources: COINDESK, Theblock, Decrypt
Hannah Estefanía Pérez / version Diariobitcoin
Bryan Horowitz image in Flickr under license Creative Commons
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