A US court sentenced Jerry Ji Guo, a San Francisco resident, to six months in prison for his role in a fraudulent coin offer (ICO). In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Guo to pay more than $ 4 million in restitution. In addition, Guo will work with the government to identify and return the stolen property.
Misappropriation of client funds
In a statement by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Guo, who pleaded guilty on August 26, 2019, “introduced himself as an ICO advisor and promised his clients to provide marketing and advertising services.” However, instead of keeping his promises, Guo “embezzled the customers’ money and cryptocurrency”.
According to court documents, a US grand jury indicted Guo on November 15, 2018, indicting him with “eight wire fraud cases in violation of 18 USC § 1343”. However, the statement says that Guo pleaded guilty up to one count, while the remainder of the charges were dismissed.
Victim compensation
In his remarks, United States attorney David L. Anderson suggests that the country’s law enforcement agencies have caught up with crypto criminals. He says:
Some criminals mistakenly believe that cryptocurrency is out of the reach of law enforcement. This case shows that we can use the loss of crime to compensate victims of fraud, even if cryptocurrency is used for the fraud.
According to the DOJ’s statement, on November 14, 2019, following Guo’s indictment, the government received a “fixed motion for a provisional forfeiture.” In addition, the government also received arrest warrants to seize the stolen money and cryptocurrency, while a “The final forfeiture of the stolen property was issued on February 26, 2020.
Meanwhile, the DOJ’s statement went on to say that the Department of Money Laundering and Asset Recovery, a component of the DOJ’s Criminal Investigation Department, “will use the victim recovery process to return stolen property to victims”.
Do you think the DOJ will have similar success in other ICO fraud cases? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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