#fraud

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has reported notable success in combating fraud, aided by the introduction of innovative technologies like AI-powered machine learning. These tools have significantly boosted the department's ability to detect and prevent fraudulent schemes.

According to the SEC statement, the married co-founders of NovaTech, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, along with a group of promoters, inflicted over $650 million in losses on investors.

PleasrDAO, an organization engaged in collecting art and philanthropy, has filed a lawsuit against Martin Shkreli, who was previously convicted of securities fraud, for using a Wu-Tang Clan album during a live broadcast. PleasrDAO asserts that this action inflicted significant harm on their organization.

A federal court in Brooklyn has sentenced former investment banker Rashawn Russell to 41 months in prison for his involvement in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme and identity theft. Investors suffered losses of approximately $1.5 million, which Russell must now repay.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the Texas-based mining company Geosyn and its founders, Caleb Ward and Jeremy McNutt, for engaging in fraudulent activities.

U.S. authorities have indicted trader Avraham Eisenberg for orchestrating a fraud and market manipulation scheme on the decentralized exchange Mango Markets. The reports indicate that in late 2022, he intentionally drove up the price of the MNGO token by 1300%, leveraging it as collateral to secure a $110 million loan he failed to return.

Civic, a project for blockchain-based identification, has released a tangible card aimed at validating users' identities. This card will integrate into the broader Civic ID system, serving as a deterrent against AI-facilitated fraud on various platforms during identity checks.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged an additional 17 managers connected to the cryptocurrency platform CryptoFX, accusing them of orchestrating a $300 million Ponzi scheme. This action comes 18 months after the SEC banned CryptoFX's operations and accused its founders of fraud.

Blockchain researcher ZachXBT revealed details of a $243 million fraud operation. This led to the arrest of several suspects and the freezing of funds' portion. The victim was a lone creditor from the Genesis platform, and the main culprits were Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano).

North Carolina authorities recovered nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency that was stolen in the “Pig Butchering” scam. This fraud technique involves gradually "fattening up" the victim, allowing them to earn small amounts initially, which encourages further investments.

A U.S. court has convicted Chinese businessman Miles Guo (real name Guo Wengui) of racketeering conspiracy and a $1 billion fraud. Simultaneously, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also charged him with cryptocurrency fraud linked to his H-Coin project, which raised about $500 million.

In the second quarter of 2024, crypto projects lost $572 million to fraud and hacks, more than doubling the $265 million in the same period last year. The two biggest victims were centralized exchanges: Japan’s DMM Bitcoin ($305 million) and Turkey’s BtcTurk ($55 million).

U.S. authorities have brought charges against three British nationals, the creators of the NFT project Evolved Apes, for conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. Investigators claim that Mohamed-Amin Atcha, Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh, and Daood Hassan promised to develop a video game but disappeared just two weeks after the fundraising.

American authorities have charged Charles Parks III with fraud and money laundering related to his operation of illegally mining cryptocurrencies using cloud services. From January to August 2021, the suspect orchestrated a cryptojacking scheme, exploiting third-party computing resources and equipment to mine cryptocurrencies.

The Chinese government is scrutinizing PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the audit firm implicated in a significant fraud case with the Evergrande Group, involving around $78 billion. Chinese officials have reached out to PwC accountants who audited the construction giant, seeking more insights.