Cases or fraud have been common in the cryptocurrency sector. It was a short while ago when an operator to one of the exchanges was taken to court. He was facing allegations of defrauding investors. Aside from that, he was also accused of lying to U.S. securities regulators who had been entrusted with conducting investigations in line with theft of virtual currency worth $46 million.
The turn of events
There is a new twist to the whole matter. The official just pleaded guilty to all the charges leveled against him. Jon Montroll was presented before James Cott, a Magistrate in Manhattan. One of the lawyers from Montroll called Daniel Levy couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
Prosecutors in a joint statement outlined that the accused person was heading WeExchange Australia Pty Ltd. This was an exchange delivering both depository and exchange services. BitFunder.com was the website that made it possible for the various users to engage in the sale of virtual shares.
Montroll and how matters unfolded
Prosecutors presented evidence showing that Montroll had succeeded at defrauding investors by what they termed a well-calculated move. He had taken bitcoins of the WeExchange users all to himself and eventually sold them out for dollars. Montroll admitted to have used the money for his personal expenses.
These prosecutors also outlined that Montroll had made a promise to the investors that they would be able to redeem their shares anytime they pleased. Aside from that, he also told them that they would be earning daily interest.
It was way back in 2013 that several computer hackers managed to make a withdrawal of about 6,000 bitcoins from the exchange. This incidence left Montroll in great trouble since he was unable to pay Ukyo what he owed it. The prosecution also revealed that Montroll proceeded with his activities of soliciting investments without caring to disclose details regarding the hack.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later leant about this matter. This body started conducting its investigations into the matter in a bid to establish how the hack was conducted. Montroll was interviewed by investigators where he is said told a lot of lies.
