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The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently ordered My Big Coin Pay, Mark Gillespie and John Roche to jointly pay $6.4 million in restitution to victims defrauded by their role in a digital asset fraud scheme.
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The defendants also must pay a $19.3 million civil monetary penalty and are barred from trading in any Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated markets, registering with the CFTC or entering into transactions involving commodity interests or digital asset commodities.
Gillespie and Roche were accused of operating a digital asset scheme with co-defendants Randall Crater and Michael Kruger. From at least January 2014 through June 2017, the defendants obtained more than $6 million from at least 28 customers through the fraudulent sale of a fully-functioning virtual currency, My Big Coin. The defendants made false and misleading claims and omissions about the currency’s value, usage and trade status, and claimed it was backed by gold.
Crater misappropriated the money solicited from customers. The court previously sentenced Crater to prison for his role in the scheme.
Kruger died, and the CFTC dismissed its enforcement action against him.
Victims may not recover lost money, the CFTC cautions, if the defendants do not have sufficient funds or assets.
