One in Five Fraudsters Plead Guilty to $722 Million Bitcoin-Ponzi Scheme

An associate of the Ponzi crypto scheme with five men for $722 million pleaded guilty.

Silviu Catalin Bacali, one of five people accused of pulling a long crook, pleaded guilty to the charges against him on Thursday, July 9.

According to a court document of the Ministry of Justice, Bacali was charged with one charge of “conspiracy to commit electronic fraud.”. The fraudulent act involves the sale of unregistered securities as part of the BitClub Network (BCN) company.

Bakali is a 35-year-old Romanian cryptography programmer. Joseph Frank Abel, Matthew Brent Getchet, Russ Albert Medlin, and Jobadia Sinclair Weeks are his four other accomplices. In December 2019, authorities detained the BCN team following a lengthy investigation.

The charges against Bakali include a maximum term of five years in jail. He’s also expected to pay $250,000 in fine.
The Ponzi scheme started in April 2014, and continued until their arrest in December, according to the court record. The idea was to sell to investors the dummy bitcoin mining pool, which offered high returns. Partners have received more than $722 million from unsuspecting investors over the five years of the scheme.

In 2016, cryptographic news at 99Bitcoins warned that BCN could be a scam based on its analysis. Other members of the crypto-community started making similar assumptions in 2017.

Crypto Fraud Update
In March 2017, reports that BitClub had conducted a malleability attack on the Bitcoin network were published in the press. As early as 2016, crypto-media news outlet 99Bitcoins had already flagged the scheme as a suspect.

Meanwhile, if they are keen to find more detail, the U.S. government is asking victims of the Ponzi scheme to visit its website.

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