Crypto

Horst Jicha skips bail in $150 million USI Tech crypto fraud case in New York

Published

1 year ago

October 11, 2024

Press Room

Horst Jicha skips bail in 0 million USI Tech crypto fraud case in New York

Horst Jicha discussing cryptocurrency.

Source: Team Business Global | YouTube

A German national who was under home detention in New York City on a $5 million bond guaranteed by his domestic partner and children in a case in which he was charged with overseeing a $150 million cryptocurrency fraud is now a fugitive.

“There’s a very active investigation underway to capture him,” said John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office, on Friday, a day after the defendant, Horst Jicha, failed to appear in Brooklyn federal court as scheduled.

“We are going to forfeit the bond,” Marzulli added, meaning that prosecutors will seek to obtain the $4 million portion of the bond that was personally guaranteed by Jicha’s partner, children and three other people, all of whom live in Germany.

Another $1 million in cash to secure the bond had been deposited with the federal government.

Horst is suspected of having tampered with his ankle bracelet monitor on Oct. 3, a prosecutor from the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office told a judge Thursday at a hearing that was supposed to address pre-trial issues in the case.

After noticing that Jicha’s ankle bracelet was not working, Pretrial Services officials sent him an email directing him to visit their office the next day. Jicha did not show up, the prosecutor told U.S. District Court Judge Orelia Merchant.

Only then did Pretrial Services inform prosecutors that Jicha’s ankle bracelet had ceased working, 26 hours after becoming aware of that fact, the prosecutor told the judge.

Jicha’s defense lawyers did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

CNBC has requested comment from Pretrial Services in Brooklyn federal court.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace gives a statement after a former U.S. Rep. George Santos court hearing on August 19, 2024 in West Islip, New York.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Jicha is scheduled to go on trial in the case March 31, where he faces multiple charges of securities fraud and conspiracy related to a multi-level marketing scheme known as USI Tech.

According to prosecutors, Jicha lied to retail investors when he told them they would make an average of 140% returns on their money in a 140-day period.

Investors were told that there were two ways they could make money: First, they could invest in what were purportedly bitcoin mining and trading operations. They could also earn commissions for referring others to buy USI Tech products, the indictment against Jicha says.

“In reality the platform was just a facade, and when questions arose, Jicha stole millions of his investors’ money and fled the country,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith said in January.

As of Friday, Jicha’s whereabouts were unknown. Court records show he had lived in Brazil and Spain before he was arrested in Florida in late 2023.

Jicha was released on bond in January, and had lived in Brooklyn.

Under the conditions of Jicha’s release, he was obligated to remain in New York City or Long Island, and not to leave his home save for court appearances, attorney visits or medical appointments, unless authorized by Pretrial Services.

Jicha, 64, also was required to surrender all passports and travel documents as a condition of his release.

Court records show that Jicha’s $5 million release bond was guaranteed and signed in January by his domestic partner Ewa Jicha, as well as by Jicha’s adult son and his three daughters, and by the boyfriend of one of Jicha’s daughters and by the boyfriend’s brother and father, court records show.

All of those people were residents of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, according to court records.

But under the terms of the bond, they are also personally responsible for the bond’s amount.

After Horst Jicha was released, Ewa Jicha acted as the third-party custodian for him, and was required to report any violations of his release to a U.S. Probation officer.

Jicha was arrested on Dec. 23 in Miami, after entering the United States for the first time in more than five years, to vacation there.

Prosecutors allege that Jicha launched USI Tech in Europe, where, as a co-founder and CEO, he claimed the company would make “cryptocurrency investments easy and accessible to the average retail investor.”

“In reality, it was a multilevel marketing scheme that relied on investors recruiting other investors below them to buy various purported cryptocurrency investments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in January.

“In 2017, Jicha brought USI Tech to the United States and aggressively marketed it to U.S. retailers on social media and through in-person presentations in which he falsely guaranteed high returns on investments and made false claims about the legality of the platform’s investment offerings,” the office said. There are multiple videos on YouTube showing Jicha hyping the company.

In early 2018, after USI Tech came under regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., “it ceased all U.S. operations overnight, leaving investors with no ability to access their money and resulting in millions of dollars in losses.”

Prosecutors said that much of the missing money in the scam, “valued at approximately $150 million as of the date of his arrest,” was held in the form of ether and bitcoin cryptocurrency. After USI Tech stopped operating, that cryptocurrency was sent to digital deposit addresses controlled by Jicha.

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Crypto

Capital B Completes Capital Increase and Acquires 44 Additional Bitcoin, Now Holds 2,888 BTC

Published

11 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Capital B Completes Capital Increase and Acquires 44 Additional Bitcoin, Now Holds 2,888 BTC

France-based Capital B, also known as The Blockchain Group, announced the completion of an At-the-Market (ATM) capital increase and warrant issuances on March 23, 2026. This financial restructuring involves partnerships with TOBAM and UTXO Management to support the firm’s specialized focus on data intelligence and decentralized technology.

The company successfully acquired 44 bitcoin ( BTC) for $3.12 million (€2.7 million), bringing its total holdings to 2,888 BTC with an acquisition value of $309.34 million (€267.1 million). Key performance metrics reveal a year-to-date BTC yield of 0.72% and a total BTC gain of 20.4 tokens for the Paris-listed entity.

🧭 FAQs

• Where is Capital B headquartered and listed? The company is based in Puteaux, France and listed on the Euronext Growth Paris exchange.

• What is the total bitcoin holding for the group? The group and its Luxembourg subsidiary now hold a total of 2,888 BTC.

• Who participated in the recent capital raises? TOBAM and UTXO Management provided the funding through ATM contracts and share subscription warrants.

• Does this transaction require a local AMF prospectus? This specific financial transaction does not require a prospectus subject to approval by the AMF.

Crypto

Fintech Stock SoFi Technologies Just Proved That the Ultimate Cryptocurrency Has a Clear Use Case | The Motley Fool

Published

23 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Fintech Stock SoFi Technologies Just Proved That the Ultimate Cryptocurrency Has a Clear Use Case | The Motley Fool

If a company, particularly one that operates in the otherwise boring and slow-moving financial services industry, has seen its revenue soar 133% in three years, it’s clearly doing something right. That’s the best way to describe SoFi Technologies (SOFI +1.48%). The digital banking superstar ended 2025 with almost 13.7 million customers.

Product innovation has been a key pillar of SoFi’s success, and in recent months, this core competency has been on full display. This fintech stock just proved that the ultimate cryptocurrency has a clear use case.

Image source: Getty Images.

Giving its members another tool to better handle their finances

SoFi tapped Lightspark, a payments start-up founded in 2022 by former Meta Platforms executive David Marcus, to enable cross-border payments for its customers. Lightspark provides the back-end infrastructure, while SoFi Pay users can leverage this exciting capability.

This feature leans on the Bitcoin (BTC +3.99%) Lightning network, a Layer-2 protocol that allows for fast and cheap transactions to occur.

What stands out with this is that SoFi doesn’t necessarily need to be bullish on Bitcoin. The management team simply picked what it thought was the most capable technological solution that could rapidly integrate and scale up. Since it was introduced in August last year, SoFi Pay now facilitates remittances to over 30 countries.

At a high level, the person sending the money and the person receiving the money deal with their own respective local currencies. Underneath the hood, SoFi and Lightspark handle the conversion to and from Bitcoin.

Besides how easy the feature is to use, SoFi could save its customers a lot of money. In 2024, $138 billion of remittances were sent from the U.S. to India, for example. Money-transfer services charge average fees that can be well above 5% of the value being sent.

Today’s Change

(3.99%) $2717.74

Current Price

$70898.00

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.4T

Day’s Range

$67564.00 – $71646.00

52wk Range

$60255.56 – $126079.89

Volume

56B

Propelling the top digital asset to its next stage of development

This product introduction shows how innovative SoFi is, as the popular banking platform isn’t afraid to try new things with the top priority being to better serve its members.

Additionally, this move is a clear signal to the rest of the world that Bitcoin has a use case in the finance world. Looking ahead, it will be important to pay attention to any commentary SoFi’s leadership team provides on adoption trends. Other banks might choose to do something similar.

I believe we’re now witnessing the early innings of Bitcoin’s next evolutionary phase to becoming a medium of exchange. It has been a wonderful investment, with a trailing 10-year return of 18,000% (as of March 18). While I expect strong gains to continue, the crypto asset’s ability to transfer value around the globe is impossible to overstate and will be critical for its long-term viability.

Should Bitcoin be leaned on more for its utility value, it provides durable demand. This can support a higher price in the future.

Crypto

The Best Crypto to Buy for Long-Term Investors Right Now | The Motley Fool

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

The Best Crypto to Buy for Long-Term Investors Right Now | The Motley Fool

Despite its position as a multitrillion-dollar asset class, the cryptocurrency industry is still trying to prove itself as a viable place to park capital. Volatility remains a challenge. And there is no shortage of critics who still believe these digital assets serve no purpose.

Even after considering these arguments, investors might want to test the waters for the sake of boosting the returns of their portfolios. Here’s the best cryptocurrency that long-term investors should buy.

Image source: Getty Images.

Start with the world’s prime digital asset

According to coinmarketcap.com, there are tens of millions of different cryptocurrencies out there that make up this relatively new asset class. That huge figure can distract investors who are serious about where to allocate their hard-earned savings. In this situation, simplicity is key. Stick to the proven crypto that has developed a dominant position: Bitcoin (BTC 0.57%).

Bitcoin has been around for more than 17 years, ever since its first block was mined in January 2009. This makes it the first cryptocurrency. Its market cap of $1.4 trillion (as of March 18) gives it almost 60% share of the entire industry.

And the performance is phenomenal. In the past 10 years, Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed 18,000%. It has been one of the best assets that anyone could have owned this century.

You might be wondering what problem Bitcoin solves. It was created to be a solution to the current monetary system, which has its own issues. These center on persistent currency debasement and monumental, ever-increasing amounts of sovereign debt.

Bitcoin’s absolute scarcity, shown by its hard supply cap of 21 million units, is its most compelling feature. It’s also not controlled by a single entity, is completely decentralized, and has never been hacked.

Today’s Change

(-0.57%) $-390.91

Current Price

$68392.00

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.4T

Day’s Range

$67564.00 – $68885.00

52wk Range

$60255.56 – $126079.89

Volume

34B

Expect the volatility to continue, but the gains can be massive

Because Bitcoin is an emerging monetary asset, the volatility isn’t going away just yet. Over time, the price swings have gotten less extreme. However, the ups and downs are something long-term investors can’t avoid. This isn’t unique to Bitcoin. Some of the most impressive technology stocks over the past couple of decades, like Nvidia, Amazon, and Netflix, were extremely difficult to hold on to during times of intense volatility.

As was the case with those disruptive businesses, patient investors will be rewarded in this situation. Bitcoin is currently trading 41% below its record price from about five months ago. But it has historically always recovered to reach newer all-time highs. Its fundamentals, particularly around network security, transaction volume, and adoption trends, are all in strong shape.

Investors who can buy Bitcoin and hold for 10 years are setting themselves up for success.