Founder of My Big Coin cryptocurrency firm Randell Carter has been convicted of wire fraud and unlawful transactions by a federal jury in Boston on Thursday.
Carter established My Big Coin Inc in 2013, putting the headquarters of the fake crypto and virtual payment services company in Las Vegas.
Between 2014 and 2017, he defrauded about 40 victims of over $6 million, and his associates misrepresented the token.
He claimed that its cryptocurrency token, My Big Coin, is backed by $300 million worth of Gold, oil, and other physical assets.
Additionally, he claimed that there was a partnership between My Big Coin and MasterCard and told investors they could exchange their tokens for other virtual and fiat currencies.
All the claims were false because My Big Coin was not even on the blockchain to start with.
According to prosecutors, Carter spent investors’ funds for his personal purpose, with hundreds of thousands going to antiques, jewelry, and artworks.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) initially filed a commodity fraud charge against him in 2018 in one of the first cases where the court ruled that cryptocurrency could be considered a commodity.
At the time, the CFTC also filed civil charges against Carter’s associates, including the CEO of My Big Coin, John Roche, and two others.
After the CFTC initially sued him, federal prosecutors also went after him and got an indictment in 2019. The department of justice worked with the CFTC, FBI, and USPIS to investigate the case
Following the conviction on four counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering, he may face up to 30 years in prison. The sentencing has been scheduled for October 27 before a federal district judge.
However, his lawyer, Scott Lopez, has said that Carter did nothing wrong as the investors were fully aware of the risks of cryptocurrencies before investing in them.
Lopez in his opening statement said:
Failing to launch a successful start-up, particularly in the volatile world of cryptocurrency, the evidence will show is not a crime.
But the US Attorney, Rachael S. Rollins, argued that:
Carter saw the burgeoning popularity of crypto as a chance to get rich quick through an unscrupulous fraud scheme cloaked by flashy marketing tactics and outright lies.
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