According to some reports, the DeFi crypto investment platform Forsage founders have been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme and crypto pyramid in the US that defrauded nearly 340 million dollars of investors. Reports indicate that if the founders are convicted, they will face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for their roles in the company.
Russian Forsage Founders accused of running crypto pyramid.
A federal grand jury in the District of Oregon returned an indictment on Wednesday charging the founders of the famous DeFi crypto investment platform with what authorities believe was a global Ponzi scheme. The entity, Forsage, allegedly raised more than 330 million dollars from its investors and other people, per an announcement by the US Department of Justice.
All four indicted – Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev and Sergey Maslakov- are citizens of the Russian Federation. Some used one or more aliases while aggressively promoting the project through its website and social media as a legitimate, lucrative, low-risk business opportunity. Segreev, for example, presented himself as Mike Mooney.
Forsage was advertised to the public as a decentralised matrix project based on network marketing and smart contracts. However, it was nothing but a Ponzi and pyramid investment scheme set up and run to defraud investors worldwide. The defendants are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. And, if they are convicted, they would face nearly 20 years of jail imprisonment as punishment.
Court documents suggest founders deployed smart contracts on ETH
As you know, the DeFi crypto investment platform Forsage founders have been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme and crypto pyramid in the US that defrauded nearly 340 million dollars of investors. Court documents also suggested that the founders deployed smart contracts on ETH, Binance Smart coin and Tron blockchain network.
Analysis of the code showed that as soon as anyone invested in Forsage by buying a “slot” in a smart contract, the funds were used to pay earlier Forsage investors. US Attorney Natalie Wight for the District of Oregon emphasised that the indictment results from a months-long investigation.
She added that bringing charges against foreign actors who use new technologies to commit fraud in an emergency financial market is a complicated endeavour only possible with the complete coordination of multiple law enforcement agencies.
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