After being indicted in Texas last July, prosecutors in New York have now filed a second indictment against Kristijan Krstic.
Kristijan Krstic’s Ponzi empire came crumbling down, following his arrest by Serbian authorities at the behest of the FBI.
As part of a criminal case against Haojia Miao, one of Krstic’s accomplices, previously sealed indictment details were made public in early February.
Separately, prosecutors in New York have filed their own indictment against Krstic. That case was made public on February 24th.
Whereas the Texas indictment pertains to multiple defendants, Krstic (right) is the only defendant indicted in New York.
As per the filed indictment, Krstic is facing criminal charges related to Bitcoiin and Start Options.
The NY indictment frames Bitcoiin as a continuation of the Start Options Ponzi scheme.
Bitcoiin had previously done business under different corporate names, including the name “Start Options” in or about the fall of 2017.
Start Options (was) founded by the defendant KRISTIJAN KRSTIC, along with his co-conspirators.
Of note is the Texas indictment stops short of documenting Bitcoiin, Krstic’s last Ponzi scheme.
The NY indictment names Sasha Bjelov and John DeMarr as Krstic’s accomplices.
John DeMarr was arrested by US authorities last month. He’s been separately indicted in New York.
A third unnamed individual is also referenced in Krstic’s indictment;
Individual 1, an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, was an American citizen who was a resident of Nevada.
Individual 1 previously worked as an attorney in California, but resigned his license to practice while facing disciplinary charges in or about 2011.
Individual 1, acting primarily at the direction of DeMarr, also served as a ghostwriter of press releases, technical whitepapers and website content for a number of digital asset-related companies, including Bitcoiin.
I believe “Individual 1” is Krstic’s accomplice Robin Enos. Why he’s not as of yet being named is unclear (still on the run?).
Start Options launched in late 2017, lasting only a few months before it’s collaspe in late January 2018.
Bitcoiin surfaced less than a month later in February 2018.
As detailed in the New York indictment;
KRSTIC and his coconspirators never transferred B2G tokens to investors, which they never disclosed to investors.
Rather, KRSTIC and his co-conspirators created a digital token called “B2G”—not a mineable cryptocurrency—on the blockchain of another cryptocurrency, but they never transferred these tokens to investors on that blockchain.
Instead, KRSTIC and his co-conspirators created a fictitious online user interface for investors on the B2G Website.
When investors logged on, they viewed what appeared to be B2G tokens.
In reality, they never held B2G tokens because the tokens did not exist.
Following Bitcoiin’s collapse in early 2018, DeMarr transferred $7 million in stolen investor funds to Krstic.
Around that time, KRSTIC stopped responding to all communications and absconded with those investors’ funds.
A press release issued by Start Options claimed that the company had been sold to Russian venture capitalists.
In the Texas indictment the DOJ pegged Krstic’s Ponzi empire investor losses at over $70 million.
The New York indictment charges Krstic with
- one count of securities fraud conspiracy;
- one count of securities fraud;
- one count of wire fraud conspiracy; and
- one count of money laundering conspiracy.
The DOJ are also seeking forfeiture of Krstic’s ill-gotten gains.
Following his arrest in Serbia, Krstic was to be extradited to the US. We have yet to receive confirmation that has or hasn’t happened yet.
I’ve added Krstic’s New York indictment to BehindMLM’s list of tracked cases. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to follow the case.
Update 23rd March 2021 – Efforts to extradite Krstijan Krstic from Serbia have hit a roadblock.