LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The operator and employee of a Bellflower financial services company are accused of allegedly stealing more than $1 million from low-income, primarily Spanish-speaking victims through a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme, officials announced Friday.

Yone Rios, 53, of Rancho Cucamonga and Erwing Cuevas, 35, of Norwalk are each charged with 30 felony counts of grand theft. Rios is additionally charged with one felony count of forgery relating to an item exceeding $950 in value and one felony count of passing a non-sufficient funds check exceeding $950, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Between September 2020 and December 2022, Rios and Cuevas allegedly operated the scheme under the guise of a cryptocurrency mining business known as Zukre Platform Corporation. Although Zukre claimed to install, maintain and operate computing equipment to mine cryptocurrency, the company conducted no such operations and was not a registered business in California, prosecutors said.

The defendants allegedly recruited victims through their financial services business, Fuego Tax, also known as Supremo Tax, in Bellflower. Victims visited Fuego Tax to obtain assistance applying for high-limit credit cards and loans, but were often urged to use the loans or credit that Fuego Tax had assisted them in applying for to pay into the scheme, the District Attorney’s Office alleges.

Prosecutors contend Rios and Cuevas told victims that the investments were risk-free, guaranteed and protected by insurance. They allegedly provided “clients” with written contracts and instructed them to download a Zukre- branded mobile application, which purported to show ongoing profits from their investments, officials said.

Individual investments ranged from nearly $4,500 to $280,000. Despite repeated attempts, none of the victims received any returns or was able to recover their principal investments, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors are requesting bail be set for each defendant at $600,000.

If convicted as charged, Rios would face a sentence of up to 23 years and eight months in state prison, while Cuevas would face up to 21 years and four months behind bars, authorities said.

“My office will not tolerate financial predators who purport to offer legitimate services, but instead offer lies and devastating financial loss,” L.A. County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “Let me be clear: If you steal from our communities, whether in the streets or through sophisticated investment or cryptocurrency schemes, we will find you and hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”