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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has secured federal court orders for more than $9.1 million in restitution for victims of two separate digital asset fraud schemes. This ruling is part of the CFTC’s ongoing efforts to crack down on fraud in the cryptocurrency space.
In the first case, Randall Crater, founder of the virtual currency scheme My Big Coin (MBC), was ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to pay $7.6 million in restitution. Crater, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence, was found guilty of making false claims about MBC’s value and backing by gold.
Court documents revealed he used the misappropriated funds to maintain a lavish lifestyle, purchasing luxury items such as real estate, antiques, and fine art.
The case against Crater also involved co-defendants Mark Gillespie and My Big Coin Pay, Inc. They faced charges including wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, leading to Crater’s current imprisonment.
In a separate case, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered Rashawn Russell to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution for running a fraudulent digital assets trading operation. Russell solicited investments in bitcoin and ether, claiming to have a proprietary trading fund. Instead, he misused customer assets for personal expenses and gambling, as well as engaging in Ponzi-like behavior by paying existing customers with new investments.
Russell, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and access device fraud, is serving a three-year prison term and has been banned from trading for himself for eight years. Both court orders also include permanent injunctions preventing the defendants from participating in CFTC-regulated markets.
The CFTC has warned that despite these restitution orders, the recovery of lost funds is not guaranteed, as the perpetrators may not have sufficient assets.
These cases add to a series of actions by the CFTC against crypto-related fraud. Earlier this year, a federal court in Florida ordered Mosaic Exchange Ltd and its CEO to pay over $1.1 million for operating a fraudulent digital asset trading scheme. Additionally, about a month ago, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini settled with the CFTC for $5 million over allegations of providing misleading information to regulators.
In December, a federal court required individuals associated with Icomtech to pay over $5 million in penalties for a digital asset fraud scheme impacting nearly 200 investors globally.
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