Fraud in the News

SEC, FBI, DOJ join forces to bust crypto fraudsters and more



SEC, FBI, DOJ join forces to bust crypto fraudsters

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FBI and U.S. Department of Justice coordinated a large-scale takedown of fraudulent cryptocurrency firms involved in market manipulation. The SEC filed civil suits against crypto firms Gotbit Consulting, ZM Quant Investment, CLS Global and their associates, accusing them of market manipulation, including wash trading (moving assets between accounts to give the appearance of high trade volume and inflate the value of those assets) and unregistered securities offerings. To lure and capture the faux crypto enterprises, the FBI created NexFundAI, a crypto token. ZM Quant and CLS Global are implicated in fraud concerning NexFundAI. Gotbit Consulting and its marketing director, Fedor Kedrov, are accused of manipulating the market on behalf of Saitama, Robo Inu and NexFundAI crypto projects. The SEC seeks penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and permanent injunctions against the defendants. (See “SEC, FBI, DOJ coordinate takedown of fraudulent crypto firms,” by Derek Andersen, CoinTelegraph, Oct. 9, 2024.)


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