United States Division of Justice (DoJ) and the Southern District of New York (SDNY) extradited a member of an alleged AirBit Membership ponzi scheme for “internationally coordinated fraud and cash laundering ring” and being allegedly concerned in defrauding people “by investments in AirBit Membership.”
In a launch revealed on Monday, 30 November DoJ recognized one Gutemberg Dos Santos, a citizen of Brazil and the USA as one among six operators of AirBit Membership. Dos Santos, who was arrested on 18 August 2020, in Panama Metropolis confronted trial earlier than the SDNY and now stays in US custody. Performing United States Lawyer Audrey Strauss spoke on the matter and mentioned:
As alleged, Gutemberg Dos Santos performed a key position in a global funding rip-off that promised extraordinary charges of return on phantom investments in cryptocurrencies, defrauding victims of tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
DoJ alleged Dos Santos and one other 5 operators hosted lavish occasions geared toward convincing victims to buy AirBit Membership memberships that promised assured returns. In accordance with the DoJ, after a sufferer invested, a Promoter supplied them with entry to a web-based AirBit Membership portal to view the purported returns on memberships. The DoJ additionally alleged that whereas victims noticed “earnings” accumulate on their On-line Portal, these representations have been false:
No Bitcoin mining or buying and selling on behalf of Victims in actual fact befell. As an alternative, Rodriguez, DOS SANTOS [and others] enriched themselves, and spent Sufferer cash on vehicles, jewellery, and luxurious properties, and financed extra extravagant expos to recruit extra victims.
The AirBit Membership’s still-active web site indicated among the aforementioned occasions with the latest happening in Sao Paulo, Brazil, final 12 months. As well as, among the six indicted was Scott Hughes, a California lawyer who, the DoJ alleged, helped to “take away detrimental details about AirBit Membership and Vizinova from the web.”
