The CFTC has sued scammers behind the EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus and JetCoin Ponzi schemes.
Defendants Dwayne Golden, Jatin Patel, Marquis Demarking Egerton (aka Mardy Eger) and Gregory Aggesen, stand accused of stealing tens of millions by means of the scams.
- Dwayne Golden is a US citizen residing in Florida
- Jatin Patel is an Indian citizen residing in Maharashtra
- Mardy Eger is a US citizen residing in North Carolina
- Gregory Aggesen is a US citizen residing in New York
The CFTC’s criticism spans conduct alleged to have taken place between April and August 2017.
The criticism particulars the defendants working with an unnamed confederate, who seems to be cooperating with US authorities.
As alleged by the CFTC, Dwayne Golden (proper), Jatin Patel and Mardy Eger ran EmpowerCoin.
Reviewed right here on BehindMLM in Might 2017, EmpowerCoin promised traders a 200% bitcoin ROI in 90 days or much less.
After EmpowerCoin collapsed it was rebooted as ECoinPlus.
Golden, Patel, Greg Aggesen and the unnamed confederate ran JetCoin.
I consider the confederate is JetCoin Grasp Distributor Scott Chandler however can’t say for positive.
Chandler was sued by the FTC for selling and profiting JetCoin and different Ponzi schemes in 2018.
Once more reviewed her on BehindMLM in June 2017, JetCoin promised traders a 200% ROI in 40 to 50 days.
JetCoin’s reboot switched out the mounted return mannequin for every day return charges.
EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus and JetCoin represented exterior income was generated by way of buying and selling.
JetCoin 2.0 dropped the buying and selling ruse. There was no try to even faux it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme.
Of their criticism the CFTC confirms no buying and selling befell.
As in all Ponzi schemes, Defendants’ payouts of supposed earnings to clients really consisted of different clients’ misappropriated funds.
The Ecoinplus Defendants didn’t make use of merchants and, the truth is, didn’t commerce Bitcoin; and since the assured returns and fee funds had been completely fictitious as a result of these quantities may solely be paid to the extent that new buyer investments had been out there to be redistributed to current clients.
The JetCoin Defendants didn’t make use of merchants and, the truth is, didn’t commerce Bitcoin; and since the assured returns and fee funds had been completely fictitious as a result of these quantities may solely be paid to the extent that new buyer investments had been out there to be redistributed to current clients.
EmpowerCoin and ECoinPlus took in $23.2 million from customers.
Dwayne Golden, Jatin Patel and Mardy Eger stole over 42% of funds invested into EmpowerCoin and ECoin Plus ($9.86 million).
JetCoin took in $21.7 million.
Golden, Patel, Greg Aggesen (proper) and their unnamed confederate stole over 36% of funds invested into JetCoin ($7.884).
By way of this conduct, Defendants had been engaged, are participating, or are about to have interaction in manipulative and misleading acts with respect to contracts of sale of a commodity in interstate commerce, in violation of Part 6(c)(1) of the Commodity Trade Act (the “Act”), as amended, 7 U.S.C. § 9(1) (2018), and Regulation 180.1(a), 17 C.F.R. § 180.1(a)(1)-(3) (2020).
Inner communications offered by the CFTC reveal the defendants had been conscious they had been operating scams.
In on Might 2017 voice message (the recipient isn’t disclosed), Golden acknowledged EmpowerCoin
couldn’t proceed working because it had as a result of he had already “shifted quite a lot of the cash into different packages”, which meant they may not proceed to pay commissions as assured.
In response to this, Patel advised he and Golden
solely take cash for themselves from newly invested bitcoin as a option to maintain the scheme going, noting that the bitcoin within the system was the “lowest to date since we began” and that that they had every made greater than half one million {dollars} at that time.
Later that very same day Patel alternatively advised they and Eger (proper)
start “paying” themselves their misappropriated shares of buyer bitcoin investments on “revenue” relatively than on “gross – that’s, to take their shares after making Ponzi funds to different clients as an alternative of earlier than doing so – in an effort to maintain the operation operating longer.
Patel famous, “We made some huge cash the previous few days, we will wait to take extra money.”
On June 1st, 2017, Patel acknowledged in a voice message that
EmpowerCoin and ECoinPlus may proceed working “so long as members maintain becoming a member of”.
Desirous to revenue off fraud however not be related to it, Golden complained to Patel after he was tied to EmpowerCoin.
In a voice message to Patel on Might 10, 2017, Golden complained that his identify was related to EmpowerCoin’s area registration and that EmpowerCoin members had been saying that he owned the corporate.
He informed Patel that the web site was “imagined to be registered exterior the nation”; and he urged Patel to “undo” the registration, saying he hoped it was an accident that his identify was related to the registration.
In a message to Egerton on Might 16, 2017, an worker of Golden’s agency famous that she could be establishing “an nameless Gmail” to deal with buyer emails by means of a digital personal community in order that “it’ll be untraceable to us.”
In a voice message to Golden on Might 25, 2017, the identical worker famous that the workforce responding to buyer emails had been instructed to not talk any details about the possession of Ecoinplus and that every one the people working the corporate wanted to keep up their anonymity.
In a voice message on June 13, 2017, Golden inspired
Patel to ensure to “maintain your distance” from being related to Empowercoin/Ecoinplus.
EmpowerCoin’s reboot, ECoinPlus, collapsed in July 2017.
Of the $9.86 million stolen, Dwayne Golden obtained $1.27 million. Jatin Patel obtained $7.2 million and Mardy Eger obtained $1.21 million.
JetCoin was the same story, with Golden and Patel the hyperlink between the 2 scams.
Golden and Patel took efforts to maintain Eger unaware of their involvement in JetCoin and, vice versa, to maintain Aggesen and the confederate unaware of their involvement in EmpowerCoin/ECoinPlus.
Though each had been comparatively short-lived, there was some overlap between ECoinPlus collapsing and JetCoin’s launch.
Golden stated in a voice message to Patel on Might 24, 2017 that he didn’t wish to create an “imbalance” between the 2 entities as a result of “we’re making good cash from each” and referred to the 2
entities as “rival enemies”.
Simply in case there was any doubt the scammers knew what they had been doing;
On June 1, 2017, Golden stated that he cherished JetCoin however knew it had “a termination date,” that it will not work long run, and that it was constructed for “fast cash.”
In a voice message on June 30, 2017, Aggesen informed the Confederate that the most important mistake in working JetCoin was that they didn’t “follow the story” that “there was buying and selling occurring.
He famous that each males knew the purported buying and selling “wouldn’t help any system anyway over an extended time period” and in contrast it to a special, earlier scheme that he referred to as a “Ponzi.”
In a voice message to Aggesen on July 1, 2017, the Confederate stated, with respect to “individuals who wish to sit by and earn cash with out doing something,” that “nobody believes in that crap,” which means that the passive assured payouts ought to have been clearly fictitious to potential clients.
Likewise, in one other voice message, Aggesen stated to the Confederate, “This complete factor about coming in and placing your cash into one thing and earning money for nothing, that’s such a joke. I didn’t have time to consider the entire idea right here, the factor went so fast, with or with out buying and selling.”
In a message on July 2, 2017, the Confederate informed Aggesen that JetCoin required new buyer investments so as “to remain alive,” and that if the location didn’t obtain 250 Bitcoin every day, it will collapse or require the operators to pay out of their very own pockets.
JetCoin fee issues started in early June 2017.
In a voice message to Golden on June 13, 2017, Patel predicted that the subsequent day or the day after could be the final day JetCoin would be capable of make the assured every day and fee funds to clients.
In an try to maintain the Ponzi going, by the top of the month JetCoin every day funds had been lowered from 4-5% to 1.1%.
This charge was bumped to three.3% for associates who satisfied others to take a position 20 BTC of latest quantity into JetCoin.
JetCoin collapsed by the top of the month.
JetCoin 2.0 was launched the next month however was once more short-lived.
The JetCoin Defendants and the Confederate completely shut down the JetCoin web site in or about August 2017 and stopped responding to buyer criticism inquiries.
The JetCoin Defendants and the Confederate took efforts to not be related to the web sites for worry of buyer backlash.
For instance, after a voice message on June 30, 2017, by which Aggesen complained about “getting beat up” by JetCoin clients, the Confederate proposed on July 1, 2017 that he and Aggesen inform clients that they had been launched to JetCoin by Patel and that they didn’t know who the homeowners had been.
Of the $7.884 in JetCoin funds saved by the admins;
- Dwayne Golden obtained $1.128 million
- Jatin Patel obtained $4.896 million
- Aggesen obtained $1.351 million
- the unnamed confederate obtained $509,000
JetCoin 2.0 was rebooted as My Digital BTC in August. My Digital BTC had collapsed by mid-September.
The CFTC’s criticism alleges two counts of use of a manipulative or misleading gadget or contrivance.
The CFTC seeks a everlasting injunction in opposition to the defendants, in addition to disgorgement, restitution, a civil financial penalty plus post-judgment curiosity.
Parallel felony proceedings in opposition to the defendants have been filed by the DOJ.
Keep tuned for updates we monitor each instances.
Replace ninth March 2022 – The CFTC’s case is now up on Pacer.
The case was filed on March eighth and as of but there’s no substantial updates. I’ll verify again in just a few days.