Blockchain
Florida man pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud linked to Forcount Crypto Ponzi
One of the main promoters of the Forcount Crypto Ponzi scheme – a Brazil-based scam that defrauded Spanish-speaking investors around the world out of a total of $8.4 million – has pleaded guilty to his role in the operation , federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Juan Tacuri, 46, of Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Tacuri also agreed to repay nearly $4 million to his victims, as well as real estate purchased with the victims’ funds as part of his plea deal.
Tacuri and other promoters promised investors that their investments in Forcount, a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company, would double within six months. But, according to the indictment, Forcount never carried out any mining or commercial activity: Tacuri and his partners were simply using the money of new investors to repay previous investors and enrich themselves, spending lavishly on luxury goods and real estate.
Prosecutors say Tacuri traveled across the United States hosting “lavish expos” to find new investors, luring them with the promise of “achieving financial freedom” and “bragging rights[ing] on the amount of money he earned, including wearing designer clothes at such events.”
In 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against Tacuri and three other members of the scheme for violating the Securities Act – an action parallel to criminal charges against Tacuri and his associates in New York.
Tacuri will be sentenced in New York on September 24 by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, the same judge who is overseeing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against cryptocurrency firm Ripple.