The AirBit Club cryptocurrency pyramid, organized by Pablo Renato Rodriguez and five of his accomplices, was marketed as “the first international decentralized system that combines four different industries: cryptocurrency, trading, affiliate club and marketing networks.”
However, for clients it turned out to be a fraudulent project that attracted inexperienced investors using multi-level network marketing methods, which could only exist at the expense of new participants. Despite the negative reviews, AirBit Club’s high public activity continued from 2015 until mid-2019, and scammers were able to take possession of millions of dollars in assets.
In 2020, at the request of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the organizers of AirBit Club were detained, and prosecutors brought charges of money laundering and fraud. Recently, the court proved the guilt of the organizers of the crypto-pyramid and sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment. In particular, Pablo Renato Rodriguez will spend the next 12 years behind bars.
As it became known later, the detention of the criminals followed numerous appeals from an initiative group uniting AirBit Club investors affected by the actions of scammers to American regulatory authorities.
During the investigation, more than 16,000 military technical equipment, funds in bank accounts, real estate and expensive branded items were confiscated from the organizers of the pyramid. According to unofficial data, in total, law enforcement agencies confiscated assets worth more than $600 million, Evgeny Lebedev, curator of the AirBit Club member community, tells Bits.media. Community fights for the return of amounts and rewards invested in the project.
After the alienation of misappropriated funds, the process related to the return of deposits moved forward. The court ordered the US government to develop a compensation scheme. Officials have until December 26, 2023.
Evgeny Lebedev believes that only timely filing of an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can be the basis for claims for the return of funds. Therefore, all those affected by the actions of AirBit Club need to use the window of opportunity and have time to submit their application within the prescribed period. According to the community curator, the situation is complicated by the fact that the AirBit Club client base available to the court may be deliberately distorted and not include data on all injured users.
Earlier, Sebastian Karl Greenwood, one of the founders of the fraudulent crypto-pyramid OneCoin and an accomplice of Ruzha CryptoQueen Ignatova, was sentenced in the United States to 20 years in prison.
Source: Bits
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