Source: SEC“Palafox attracted investors with the allure of guaranteed profits from sophisticated crypto asset and foreign exchange trading, but instead of trading, Palafox bought himself and his family cars, watches, and homes using millions of dollars of investor funds,” said Scott Thompson, associate director of the SEC’s Philadelphia office. The SEC is charging Palafox with violating the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws and is seeking a permanent injunction to ban him from the future sale of securities and crypto assets, repayment of ill-gotten gains and civil penalties. Justice Department files twin actionThe SEC’s complaint is running parallel to action brought by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which arraigned Ramil Palafox on criminal charges. According to an indictment filed under seal on March 13, federal prosecutors charged Palafox with wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions.
Prosecutors alleged Palafox misled investors with false promises of daily returns ranging from 0.5% to 3% from Bitcoin trading and hid information about PGI’s profitability, licenses, and business activity. The indictment said Palafox told investors that substantial returns were being generated via the company’s crypto exchanges and that “his traders were able to make money regardless of whether the price of Bitcoin was going up or down.” However, the Justice Department alleged that, in reality, most investors' money was never used to buy or trade Bitcoin, and many lost some or all of their funds.
Related: Crypto crime goes industrial as gangs launch coins, launder billions — UNVarious linked companies were included in the scheme, including the Praetorian Group International Trading Inc., the website for which was seized by the Department of Justice in 2021, leading to its UK-based operations being shut down by the UK’s High Court. It’s the agency’s first crypto-related case under its crypto-friendly SEC chair, Paul Atkins, who was sworn in on April 22.
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Author / Journalist: Cointelegraph by Jody McDonald
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