Class action lawyer calls for CEO of billion dollar crypto scheme to be detained

Published at: Dec. 16, 2020

A lawyer representing users in one of four class-action lawsuits against Spain-based crypto trading bot developer Arbistar is calling for authorities to take “forceful” action against its CEO.

According to a report from Spanish news outlet elDiario.es, lawyer Carlos Aránguez said that the response from authorities in regards to Arbistar CEO Santi Fuentes, who allegedly scammed users out of millions, does not match the severity of his crime. Fuentes has been out on probation since his arrest in October for his role in the alleged billion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme Arbistar ran this year. He was charged with fraud and money laundering.

“We want preventive detention for Santiago Fuentes and for our clients to recover the savings that have been so unjustly plundered,” Aránguez said in Spanish. “It is unacceptable that in the face of a scam like this there hasn’t been a strong reaction on the part of the judicial authorities.”

The lawyer currently represents 130 people out of the reported 32,000 who suffered losses at Arbistar after the firm claimed in September there was an error in the calculations for profits generated by the bot. Aránguez’s clients reportedly lost $4.8 million from the alleged error, and there are at least three other class-action lawsuits against the crypto firm. He said:

“If 130 people have lost four million euros, the overall volume is impressive. We are facing the largest computer scam in our country.”

Aránguez described the scam as “extraordinarily complex and sophisticated,” involving users depositing Bitcoin (BTC) that should have been deposited and sold at a higher price for a profit — hence the name Arbistar, after arbitrage. However, the lawyer said that users never reaped any profits because the bot failed to perform.

Fuentes told Cointelegraph in September that there was no scam or misappropriation of digital assets, and that Arbistar would return the funds in roughly 12 months. He has been released without bail following his arrest in October on charges of fraud and money laundering,

Tags
Regulation
Law
Crimes
Spain
Related Posts
Spanish court rules John McAfee can be extradited to the United States
John McAfee, founder of the antivirus software company of the same name, is one step closer to facing prosecution in the United States for tax evasion. In a ruling released on Wednesday, the Spanish National Court approved the extradition of McAfee to the United States. His legal team will have the opportunity to appeal the court’s decision. In addition, Spain’s Council of Ministers will need to approve the extradition before it is final. The U.S. government had been seeking McAfee’s extradition for charges including failing to submit tax returns from 2014 to 2018 and allegedly not reporting income from “promoting …
Regulation / June 23, 2021
Lithuanian tax service’s first confiscated crypto sale nets $7.6M
The Lithuanian government has reportedly sold a batch of cryptocurrency seized by local enforcement agencies. The State Tax Inspectorate, or STI, the country’s tax authority, sold confiscated crypto assets worth 6.4 million euro ($7.6 million) and subsequently added the funds to the state budget. According to an official announcement on Nov. 24, the seized crypto assets included major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as well as privacy-focused altcoin Monero (XMR). The STI said this is the first time that the agency has sold seized crypto for fiat. “The conversion of cryptocurrencies into euros took almost a day,” the authority …
Bitcoin / Nov. 24, 2020
Australian Hacker Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for $300K XRP Theft
A judge has sentenced Australian citizen Kathryn Nguyen to a maximum time of 2 years and 3 months in prison for her role in stealing more than 100,000 XRP tokens in January 2018. According to an Aug. 11 report in Australian publication Information Age, Nguyen was sentenced over the theft of more than $300,000 in XRP two years ago. She was initially charged in Oct. 2018 and pled guilty to fraud charges the following August. Chris Craigie, the judge presiding over Nguyen’s case, said it was a “difficult and troubling decision” to send her to prison. The Australian national will …
Regulation / Aug. 11, 2020
Judge Orders Trial in France for Alleged BTC Launderer Alexander Vinnik
Also awaiting charges in the United States and Russia, suspected Bitcoin money launderer Alexander Vinnik could be facing a trial in France first. According to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), a Paris judge has ordered the Russian national to stand trial for extortion, money laundering, criminal association, and fraudulently accessing and modifying data in data processing systems. The AFP stated French authorities have accused Vinnik of defrauding more than 100 people out of $160 million between 2016 and 2018. Vinnik, also known as "Mr. Bitcoin," is accused of laundering 300,000 Bitcoin (BTC) — roughly $3.4 billion at press time — …
Bitcoin / Aug. 4, 2020
South Korean judge dismisses warrant for individual involved in Terra collapse: Report
The warrant for Yoo Mo, the head of the business team of Terraform Labs, has reportedly been dismissed less than 48 hours after it had been issued. According to an Oct. 6 report from South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Judge Hong Jin-Pyo of the Seoul Southern District Court said it was difficult to see the “necessity and significance” of arresting Yoo. The prosecutors’ office in the same jurisdiction reportedly issued a bench warrant for the Terraform Labs exec on Oct. 5 for charges including violating the Capital Markets Act and fraud by manipulating the price of TerraUSD (UST) — now …
Regulation / Oct. 6, 2022