The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has successfully recovered $18 million in digital assets linked to a suspected Ponzi scheme involving Sam Ikkurty, an Oregon resident. Ikkurty was accused of defrauding investors through a fake “crypto hedge fund.”
According to the CFTC, Ikkurty promised big returns on investments but failed to deliver, with the fund’s value dropping by nearly 99% within months.
CFTC said he failed to inform his investors about these losses and falsely claimed he was skilled in digital assets, but only had experience from consistently “losing his personal Bitcoins to a hack”
The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where Judge Mary Rowland ordered Ikkurty and his associates to pay a total of $209 million.
This also includes $84 million to repay the defrauded customers, $37 million for illegal gains, and about $110 million in fines. Ikkurty was also fined over $14 million for not complying with court orders.
According to Ian McGinley, Director of Enforcement at the CFTC: “The defendants portrayed their programs as cutting-edge crypto and carbon investments when in reality they were plain, old-fashioned Ponzi schemes. CFTC staff not only shut down the defendants’ fraudulent schemes and obtained a money judgment of over $200 million, they also recovered more than $18 million in stolen digital assets that may otherwise have been lost forever.”
Also Read: Penpie Protocol Hacked, Suffers $27 Million Loss in Crypto
