A New York jury has convicted two former promoters of alleged crypto mining and trading company IcomTech of wire fraud conspiracy — with both now facing a maximum sentence of 20 years for their role in the “Ponzi” scheme.
On March 14, a jury in a New York District Court found David Brend and Gustavo Rodriguez guilty of one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, putting an end to a trial that lasted two weeks.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a March 15 press release that IcomTech founder David Carmona hired Rodriguez in mid-2018 to make a website for the newly-launched IctomTech which touted itself as a crypto mining and trading firm.
Cointelegraph
Carmona, Brend and others claimed to ItomTech investors that the company’s crypto trading and mining would give guaranteed daily returns.
However, prosecutors allege the company wasn’t actually trading or mining crypto — instead, it was a “Ponzi” scheme that used investor funds to pay other investors.
Rodriguez also advised on the pricing of “investment packages” and the faked daily returns which investors could access through the site and a portal he maintained.
Brend and the scheme’s other promotors, meanwhile, “siphoned off, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in victim funds,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The pilfered funds were used to buy real estate, travel and host “lavish expos and small community presentations,” where promotors showed up in “expensive cars and wearing luxury clothing” to lure more investors with promises of “financial freedom.”
IcomTech investors saw their faked profits rise in the portal but couldn’t withdraw and were “met with excuses, delays, and hidden fees.” As complaints rose, IcomTech offered a token called “Icoms” to raise extra cash on the false claim it would be accepted by companies in payments.
Icoms were “essentially worthless” and caused further losses as IcomTech collapsed in 2019 and stopped making payments.