A recent cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that saw six people raking in around $100 million over the last five years has finally resulted in the individuals involved pleading guilty. Since they have been prosecuted for a series of fraud and money laundering charges, every single charge carries around 20 to 30 years of prison. One of the individuals involved in this scheme, Pablo Renato Rodriguez, is also one of the founders of the AirBit Club. Incidentally, he was the latest to plead his guilt on the 8th of March, to wire fraud conspiracy charges.
Ponzi Scheme Perpetrators Also Included AirBit Club Founder
According to a statement made on the 8th of March from the United States Department of Justice, the startup was nothing by a fake trading and cryptocurrency mining company that had been in operation between 2015 and 2020. The startup saw promoters and executives inducing victim investors into accepting that they would be making guaranteed passive income, as well as profits on any of the memberships that they purchased.
According to the official report from the Department of Justice, the perpetrators had been moving throughout the United States, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe in order to market the AirBit Club at multiple lavish expos in order to convince others to purchase memberships of this startup.
The victims of this Ponzi scheme also saw profits getting accumulated on the online portal of this company, but no trading or mining ever took place. One of the victims who tried to withdraw the funds from her account was asked to recruit someone else in order to withdraw her funds. Damian Williams, the US Attorney, also stated that the operators had been using the victims’ funds to purchase houses, cars, and jewelry.
