Crypto
Feds accuse Portland man of ‘Ponzi-like’ cryptocurrency scheme
Federal regulators have accused a Portland man of masterminding a $44 million cryptocurrency funding rip-off.
With the assistance of YouTube movies and a advertising and marketing web site, Sam Ikkurty of Portland and a accomplice collected the $44 million from 170 traders in simply 17 months. They “misappropriated most or all the participant funds,” the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee alleged Thursday.
Ikkurty and his accomplice, Ravishankar Avadhanam, of Aurora, Illinois, stated they might make investments the funds in cryptocurrency and different commodities, based on the federal company. As an alternative, they allegedly took a number of the cash for themselves and used a lot of the remainder to repay prior traders, a traditional “Ponzi-like scheme,” the company stated within the lawsuit.