On October 15, 2024, Juan Tacuri, a senior promoter of the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme Forcount, was sentenced to twenty years in federal jail and one yr of supervised launch.
The Florida resident was additionally ordered to forfeit a house purchased with rip-off proceeds, $3.6 million in property, and pay an equal quantity in restitution to victims.
Particulars of the Rip-off
Court docket paperwork revealed that Forcount operated globally, defrauding 1000’s of victims with a specific give attention to Spanish-speaking communities in the US. Later rebranded as Weltsys, the rip-off lured buyers with false guarantees of assured income from cryptocurrency mining and buying and selling.
Tacuri and his fellow promoters enticed targets to speculate by providing guarantees of considerable returns, together with claims that their investments would double inside six months. In actuality, no cryptocurrency buying and selling or mining occurred. Following the everyday sample of a Ponzi scheme, funds from new buyers have been used to pay earlier ones whereas the promoters enriched themselves with the victims’ cash.
The 46-year-old was among the many most profitable promoters of the scheme, incomes tens of millions of {dollars}. He used the cash to assist a lavish way of life, shopping for Florida actual property and luxurious items. He additionally traveled throughout the U.S., internet hosting flashy expos and smaller neighborhood occasions to draw extra victims.
The occasions have been designed to generate pleasure, with Tacuri usually carrying designer clothes to strengthen the phantasm of wealth. He additionally urged attendees to speculate by boasting about his monetary success and presenting Forcount’s funding merchandise as a strategy to obtain monetary freedom.
Excuses and Pretend Token
Victims may monitor their supposed income by way of a faux on-line portal, however most have been unable to withdraw any of their funds. Because of this, complaints started surfacing as early as 2018. Nevertheless, Tacuri and different promoters responded with excuses, delays, and hidden charges.
To maintain the scheme going, Forcount started providing nugatory proprietary crypto-tokens often known as “Mindexcoin,” claiming they’d finally enhance in worth. These tokens solely led to additional monetary losses for buyers.
By 2021, the scheme had collapsed, leaving most victims with none return on their investments. Over 20 of them offered influence statements throughout Tacuri’s sentencing.
The U.S. Division of Justice charged the 47-year-old in December 2022, alongside associates Francisley Da Silva and Antonia Perez Hernandez. Silva and Tacuri confronted extra prices of conspiracy to commit cash laundering.
He entered a responsible plea in June 2024 earlier than U.S. District Decide Annalisa Torres, well-known for her 2023 ruling on programmatic XRP gross sales, and has been awaiting sentencing since then.
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