The US Department of Justice has filed charges against four Russians who founded Forsage, a decentralized investment platform. They are accused of creating a pyramid scheme for $340 million.

According to court documents, Vladimir Okhotnikov under the pseudonym Lado, Olena Oblamskaya (Lola Ferrari), Mikhail Sergeev (Mike Mooney, Gleb or Gleb Million) and Sergey Maslakov are charged with organized wire fraud and face up to 20 years in prison each.

“The defendants aggressively promoted Forsage through social media as a licensed and lucrative business opportunity. The platform was also advertised as a decentralized matrix project based on network marketing and smart contracts on the blockchain. At the same time, the platform itself acted as a financial pyramid. This investment scheme has attracted $340 million from investors around the world,” emphasize the representatives of the US Department of Justice.

According to Special Agent Ivan Arvelo of Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), the defendants “used fancy technology and opaque language to swindle money, but they themselves used a classic Ponzi scheme.” Arvelo recalled that technology may change, but fraud schemes remain, so law enforcement continues to identify them.

Earlier it was reported that two residents of Tomsk will be tried in Russia for stealing 86 bitcoins in the amount of 360 million rubles.