Oregon

Russian nationals face federal indictment in Oregon in alleged $340 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme

Published

2 years ago

February 23, 2023

Russian nationals face federal indictment in Oregon in alleged 0 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme

A federal grand jury in Oregon on Wednesday indicted 4 founders of Forsage, a web-based cryptocurrency platform, on accusations they ran a pyramid scheme that raised about $340 million from buyers worldwide, together with native victims.

4 Russian nationals are named because the defendants and stay out of custody.

The indictment is the most recent effort to halt the alleged fraud and follows a criticism final summer time by the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee after a cease-and-desist order was unsuccessful, in response to federal courtroom information.

The 4 defendants are accused of aggressively selling Forsage to the general public by way of social media as a reliable and profitable enterprise alternative.

They operated a web site that allowed tens of millions of retail buyers to enter into sensible contracts that operated on blockchains referred to as Ethereum, Tron and Binance, in response to federal prosecutors.

A wise contract is a pc program supposed to routinely execute, management or doc occasions and actions in response to the phrases of an settlement. A blockchain is a public ledger that information incoming and outgoing cryptocurrency transactions.

But when an investor put cash into Forsage by buying a “slot” in a Forsage sensible contract, the contract routinely diverted the investor’s cash to earlier Forsage buyers in a typical Ponzi scheme, in response to the indictment.

The indictment alleges the fraud occurred for greater than two years and buyers earned earnings by recruiting others to speculate.

Greater than half of the buyers, nonetheless, by no means acquired a single payout.

The defendants named within the indictment are the alleged Forage founders Vladimir Okhotnikov, often known as Lado; Olena Oblamska, referred to as Lola Ferrari; Mikhail Sergeev, often known as Mike Mooney; Gleb Million and Sergey Maslakov.

They’re every charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

“Bringing expenses in opposition to overseas actors who used new expertise to commit fraud in an rising monetary market is a sophisticated endeavor solely attainable with the total and full coordination of a number of regulation enforcement companies,” Oregon’s U.S. Lawyer Natalie Wight mentioned in a press release.

Portland FBI brokers have labored on the case with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and New York-based federal brokers from Homeland Safety Investigations.

“These people are alleged to have used fashionable expertise and opaque language to swindle buyers out of their hard-earned money,” mentioned Ivan J. Arvelo, particular agent answerable for Homeland Safety Investigations in New York. “However, because the indictment alleges, all they had been doing was working a traditional Ponzi scheme. The expertise might change, however the scams stay the identical.”

The Securities and Alternate Fee has alleged that Okhotnikov is “the face” of the Forsage operation, internet hosting lots of its YouTube movies and showing in interviews with promoters, in response to its criticism.

On Okhotnikov’s behalf, a lawyer, James G. Lundy, has argued in that case that U.S. courts lack authority over Okhotnikov as a result of he’s a overseas nationwide and has by no means been to the USA, in response to a submitting in federal courtroom in Illinois.

In response to Wednesday’s indictment, Okhotnikov additionally revealed a video on YouTube on Aug. 9, denying the SEC expenses. He claimed there have been “no victims” of Forsage and that no contributors “discovered themselves in a scenario of economic pyramids.” Regardless of showing in quite a few promotional movies revealed on U.S. platforms selling the Forsage scheme, Okhotnikov claimed he had “on no account touched the jurisdiction of the USA,” in response to the indictment.

The indictment additional quotes Okhotnikov, who claimed that Forsage will not be a rip-off as a result of “actual scams can by no means win individuals’s hearts.”

— Maxine Bernstein

E-mail mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Observe on Twitter @maxoregonian

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Oregon

Will No. 13 Oregon men’s basketball be able to slow down Braden Smith, No. 17 Purdue?

Published

6 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Will No. 13 Oregon men’s basketball be able to slow down Braden Smith, No. 17 Purdue?

EUGENE — By far Oregon’s biggest remaining home game this season, a top 20 clash with two-time reigning Big Ten champion Purdue carries significant stakes.

The No. 13 Ducks (15-2, 4-2 Big Ten) are ahead of the No. 17 Boilermakers in the polls, but behind them in the conference standings and NET entering Saturday’s game (12 p.m., NBC) at Matthew Knight Arena.

Both teams could use the Quadrant 1 win to improve their respective resumes come Selection Sunday, with Purdue (14-4, 6-1) arguably in bigger need of the road victory with all of its losses coming away from home. But as jockeying at the top of the Big Ten intensifies these are the matchups that will go a long way to determining the top four seeds in the conference tournament, which all receive double byes.

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Oregon

Second man dies after being washed out to sea by king tides on Oregon Coast

Published

14 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Press Room

Second man dies after being washed out to sea by king tides on Oregon Coast

A Happy Valley man died Wednesday after being washed out to sea by abnormally high tides just south of Depoe Bay.

It’s the second fatal incident blamed on the so-called “king tides” — the largest tides of the season — this winter.

Hong B Su, 45, was fishing on the rocks of the shoreline at the north end of Otter Crest Loop when he was “washed out to sea by a wave” at roughly 2:04 p.m., according to Oregon State Police.

Su was in the water for approximately 39 minutes before he was recovered by the United States Coast Guard. He was pronounced deceased when he reached the Depoe Bay Coast Guard station.

The tides were near their highest level of the month on Wednesday. The peak of the king tides was recorded on Jan. 12 at 9.84 feet in Newport, and on the day Su was swept into the sea, Jan. 15, they were just a bit lower at 9.33 feet, according to the National Weather Service. On Friday, high tide was under 8 feet. King tides is an unofficial term for the highest tides of the year.

In December, a 72-year-old North Bend man who went to photograph the king tides at the beach also died after apparently being swept into the surf. His body was recovered nearly a month later in Haynes Inlet.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.

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Oregon

What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after loss vs. Oregon State

Published

22 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Press Room

What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after loss vs. Oregon State

Putting the ball in the basket didn’t seem to be a problem for Gonzaga during Thursday night’s battle with Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon.

The issue for the Bulldogs (14-5, 5-1 WCC), however, was on the other end of the floor. Led by 29 points from Michael Rataj and 20 from Nate Kingz, the Beavers (14-4, 4-2 WCC) made 58.5% of their field goal attempts to outlast the Zags in a 97-89 overtime final from Gill Coliseum.

“[Oregon State] made shots and [isolated] guys and posted us,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said of the Beavers’ attack strategy after the game. “And when we did guard them well, they hit some tough shots [and] some tough pull-ups.”

Here’s more from Few after the loss.

On Gonzaga’s struggles defensively against Oregon State:

Oregon State Beavers guard Nate Kingz (7) shoots the ball against defensive pressure by Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Khalif Battle (99). / Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

“We played really, really good offense. We just could not get consistent stops for longer stretches. Came out in the second half with more intensity on the defensive end. [The Beavers] were still able to get some tough shots. I mean they had some real backbreakers, the bank 3 and contested 3. Even when we did play good defense, they were able to knock in some really tough shots. You almost have to play perfect on offense when you’re playing defense like that.”

On Graham Ike’s big night:

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (13) shoots the ball over Oregon State Beavers forward Michael Rataj (12). / Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

“He was great. Graham was terrific. He delivered time and time again in a high-level game against a very good, physical, big postman. You know, you also got a guard at the other end too. So again, our offense wasn’t the problem — our defense was at pretty much all five spots.”

On the positives the Bulldogs can take from the loss:

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nolan Hickman (11) shoots a three point shot against Oregon State Beavers guard Nate Kingz (7). / Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

“We competed, great environment, fought, dug our way back in after our slow start; played some good ball there in the middle of the second half. We just had a couple of possessions, I think we missed a lay-up on one of those; and then again, just not even some of the stops, we foul a lot off the ball. We fouled on the ball. They were able to get critical free throws when they were in the bonus, and you just can’t do that.”