The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against two US residents who organized several cryptocurrency fraud schemes, through which they managed to raise about $44 million.
According to press releasepublished by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the agency filed a civil lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Sam Ikkurty and Ravishankar Avadhanam. The lawsuit involves Jafia LLC, which Ikkurti created in Florida, as well as three funds managed by the defendants: Ikkurty Capital LLC, Rose City Income Fund II LP (Rose City) and Seneca Ventures LLC. The funds were engaged in the purchase, storage and trading of digital assets, commodities, derivatives, swaps and futures contracts.
The agency claims that these funds operated without registration with the CFTC and were not licensed to operate in the country. Since January 2021, the defendants have promoted the funds through websites, YouTube videos, and other marketing channels. They managed to attract at least 170 investors who invested a total of $44 million in these projects. The defendants transferred part of the funds received to their own accounts, the rest of the money was sent to an offshore organization that could transfer them to a foreign exchange for trading cryptocurrencies.
The hearing in the case will take place on May 25, 2022. On May 11, Judge Mary Rowland signed a unilateral restraining order to freeze assets controlled by the defendants. The CFTC is seeking the seizure of illegally obtained funds from Ikkurti and Avadhanama, as well as compensation for damages to defrauded investors. In addition, the department requires that the defendants pay a fine, and proposed to establish a ban on them from organizing any projects related to finance.
Recently, the CFTC announced that it will tighten its oversight of the cryptocurrency industry due to an increase in the number of fraudulent cases and manipulations in the cryptocurrency market.
Source: Bits
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