Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the financial pyramid of Coin Drop Markets (CDM) who deceived gullible investors by almost $ 200,000, pleaded guilty in a court in the Eastern District of New York, after which he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In a class action lawsuit of ten affected clients, it is said that McDonnell altogether fraudulently appropriated at least $ 194,000 in Fiat, as well as 4.41 BTC, 206 LTC, 620 ETC and 1,342,634 Verge.
Also known by the pseudonym Jason Flack, McDonnell in the recent past was the head of the company CabbageTech, on whose behalf CDM operated.
According to the author of the fraudulent scheme, CDM was engaged in trading Bitcoin, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies, allegedly at the expense of and provided profit for its clients. The company worked from November 2014 to January 2018, attracting deposits from investors under the promise of high incomes – up to 300% per week.
McDonnell also lured customers with fake balance sheets, according to which the company conducted a profitable activity. In fact, the funds of new investors were used to pay out to participants who joined the pyramid at earlier stages. Thanks to the circulation of CDM referrals for some time kept afloat.
However, as stated in the court documents, McDonnell used almost all the funds of investors for personal use. Also, at a certain stage, the site and CDM accounts in social networks were deleted, which, however, did not prevent law enforcement agencies from following the pyramid organizer and eventually detaining him.
In total, nine different charges were brought against MacDonnell, including securities fraud and electronic message fraud.
Earlier this week, the famous bitcoin preacher Andreas Antonopoulos warned investors in cryptocurrency about the high probability of a new wave of scam and fraudulent projects.
Subscribe to BlockchainJournal news on Facebook !
BlockchainJournal.news
BlockchainJournal.news
