SEC Has Halted $62 Million Crypto Mining And Trading Scheme

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down a $62 million global cryptocurrency trading and mining operation, and the DOJ has indicted the scheme’s CEO and founder. According to the Justice Department, if convicted on all counts, he faces a potential total sentence of 45 years in prison.

The SEC has put a stop to a $62 million global cryptocurrency fraud scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States said on Friday that a fraudulent crypto mining and trading scam had been shut down.

MCC International (also known as Mining Capital Coin), its founders (Luiz Carlos Capuci Jr. and Emerson Souza Pires), and two organizations managed by them have all been charged by the SEC. The charges stem from “unregistered offerings and fraudulent sales of investment plans known as mining packages to thousands of investors,” according to the agency.

The securities watchdog detailed that since at least January 2018:

MCC, Capuci, and Pires sold mining packages to 65,535 investors worldwide and promised daily returns of 1 percent, paid weekly, for a period of up to 52 weeks.

The complaint also alleges that MCC investors were initially promised returns in bitcoin (BTC). However, the defendants later “required investors to withdraw their investments in tokens called capital coin (CPTL), which was MCC’s own token.”

MCC’s Founder and CEO is charged by the DOJ

Capuci, the creator and CEO of MCC, a supposed cryptocurrency mining and investing platform, was also indicted in a $62 million global cryptocurrency fraud conspiracy, according to the US Department of Justice.

According to the DOJ, Capuci of Port St. Lucie, Florida, misled investors about his platform’s cryptocurrency mining and investment program, attracting them into MCC’s “mining packages.” He and his accomplices stated that MCC had an international network of cryptocurrency mining devices that could provide investors with “significant income and assured returns.”

They also touted MCC’s own cryptocurrency as a purported decentralized autonomous organization that was “stabilized by revenue from the biggest cryptocurrency mining operation in the world,” the DOJ added, noting:

However, Capuci operated a fraudulent investment scheme and did not use investors’ funds to mine new cryptocurrency, as promised, but instead diverted the funds to cryptocurrency wallets under his control.

The indictment further alleges that Capuci touted and fraudulently marketed MCC’s purported “trading bots” as an additional investment mechanism to help investors profit in the cryptocurrency market.

The MCC founder also allegedly recruited promoters and affiliates to promote MCC in a pyramid scheme, the DOJ said, adding that he further concealed the location and control of the fraud proceeds by laundering the funds through various foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges. The Justice Department added:

Capuci is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum total penalty of 45 years in prison.

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