Konstantin Ignatov, co-founder of alleged crypto scam OneCoin, has pleaded guilty to participation in the multi-billion dollar fraud. According to a BBC report on Nov. 14, Ignatov signed a plea on Oct. 4 and now faces up to 90 years in prison. The news was made public on Nov. 12, the BBC says. After being arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2019, Ignatov pleaded guilty to several charges, including money laundering and fraud. While facing up to 90 years behind bars, he has yet to be sentenced and will reportedly not face further criminal charges for his role …

A Dutch court has ruled that Facebook must remove Bitcoin (BTC)-related fraudulent investment ads following local billionaire and television producer John de Mol’s lawsuit against the company, Reuters reported on Nov. 11. De Mol initiated judicial proceedings against the social media giant in June 2019, claiming that Facebook failed to respond to multiple requests to remove ads of a scam that misused his and other celebrities’ images and eventually resulted in the loss of 1.7 million euros ($1.8 million) by investors. The ruling, fine and Facebook’s stance Following de Mol’s claim, a Dutch court ruled that Facebook must pull the …

The Office of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have indicted a man for allegedly participating in a cryptocurrency scheme dubbed Igobit. According to an announcement on Nov. 6, Asa Saint Clair was charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted. Used clients funds for dinners at Manhattan restaurants The document states that, from 2017 through September 2019, Saint Clair solicited investors to be part of Igobit by World Sports Alliance, a purported intergovernmental organization focused on …

Brazil has seen another tumultuous week in the cryptocurrency industry, as the alleged pyramid scheme Atlas Quantum upsets it customers yet again, another six individuals linked to the Unick Forest crypto scheme are arrested, and the founder of A2 Trader challenges Brazilian regulators to shut down his trading website. Here is the past week of cryptocurrency and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph Brasil. Atlas Quantum upsets customers, as it buys BTC for $5,500 and resells for $11,710 The alleged pyramid scheme, Atlas Quantum, a Brazilian platform that claims to conduct Bitcoin (BTC) arbitration, has angered its …

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has made an additional update to its blacklist of cryptocurrency-related websites associated with fraud. On Oct. 29, Belgium’s financial watchdog updated its list of cryptocurrency trading platforms for which it has detected indications of fraud, by adding nine new suspect sites, bringing the total of suspected crypto scams to 131. The financial authority said that it continued to receive new complaints from consumers who made crypto investments on those trading platforms, adding that cryptocurrency fraud continues to find new victims in Belgium, despite prior warnings. The FSMA has issued previous warnings to Belgian …

The CEO of Delaware-registered blockchain firm Veritaseum LLC and New York-registered Veritaseum Inc., Reggie Middleton, was ordered to pay $8.4 million in disgorgement, according to a new court order. Additionally, Middleton is liable for a civil penalty of $1 million, fintech publication FinanceFeeds reported on Nov. 1, citing a court order issued on Oct. 31. According to the report, a judge at the New York Eastern District Court has approved a motion for a consent judgment in a securities fraud case against several defendants involved in Veritaseum. Specifically, the defendants are jointly liable for disgorgement of $7,891,600, which represents a …

A Dubai-based Canadian expat has been arrested for peddling an allegedly fraudulent “Sharia-compliant” cryptocurrency and a host of other get-rich-quick schemes. As Gulf News reported on Oct. 30, Aziz “Com” Mirza had cultivated for himself a reputation as an entrepreneur, mentor and Instagram influencer. He now sits in Al Awir jail after a complaint was filed with the Dubai Police by a UAE resident allegedly defrauded of $150,000 in one of Com’s schemes. The “Bitcoin of the Middle East” Com targeted a global audience, including retail investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Greece. In just one of …

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has warned of a new Bitcoin (BTC) scam that shares the same characteristics as a previously identified entity. The watchdog issued its warning on Oct. 31. Opportunity for fraud The MSFA cautions the public that an entity dubbed “Bitcoin Future” appears to display “the same deceitful characteristics” as a separate scam, dubbed “Bitcoin Revolution,” for which it has already issued two public warnings this year. The statement notes that such scam operations appear to constantly resurface on the web as adverts, switching their names to avoid detection. Suspicious adverts peddle false slogans such as …

Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, the president of controversial Panama-based payments processor Crypto Capital tied to Bitfinex and other major cryptocurrency exchanges, was arrested by Polish authorities. According to local news outlet wPolityce’s report published on Oct. 24, he is suspected of money laundering and being involved in an international drug cartel. Laundering drug cartels’ money Per the article, Molina Lee was detained on the basis of an European Arrest Warrant issued by the prosecutor's office in Wrocław. His arrest is reportedly connected to $350 million that were seized by the Polish Ministry of Justice previously. Notably, these seized funds belonged …

California resident Seth Shapiro has filed a lawsuit against wireless service giant AT&T alleging that its employees helped to perpetrate a SIM-swap which resulted in the theft of over $1.8 million in total, including cryptocurrencies. The complaint filed on Oct. 17 claims that Shapiro is “a two-time Emmy Award-winning media and technology expert, author, and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.” The lawsuit alleges that between May 16 and May 18 AT&T employees transferred access to Shapiro’s mobile phone to outside hackers: “AT&T employees obtained unauthorized access to Mr. Shapiro’s AT&T wireless account, viewed …

The notorious North Korean hackers known as the Lazarus APT Group have created another malware targeting Apple Macs that masquerades behind a fake cryptocurrency firm. Apple Mac security specialist and principal security researcher at Jamf Patrick Wardle published a blog post on Oct. 12 outlining the nature of the malware, revealed by MalwareHunterTeam (MHT) researchers the previous day. Closely related to earlier macOS crypto-malware MHT and Wardle have warned that at the time of their warning, the malware was undetected by any engines on VirusTotal and that the sample appears to be closely related to a strain of Mac malware …

Bank of Ireland (BOI) executives have backed out of the testimony before the United States Government in the criminal proceedings regarding a $400 million worth money laundering scheme through cryptocurrency scam OneCoin. No testimony on voluntary basis As fintech-focused news outlet FinanceFeed reported on Oct. 11, the U.S. Government filed a Letter with the Court on Oct. 10, in which it clarified that over the past week it had tried to get voluntary witness testimony in Ireland. However, the witnesses changed their stance toward the prospect of testifying and would now testify only in response to compulsory process under the …