The fraudster will spend nine years in prison for defrauding investors of $ 249 million
Date: 2023-07-20 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BUSINESS
A resident of Long Island was sentenced to nine years in prison for cheating investments in his cryptocurrency platform EminiFX. Bloomberg writes about it
Haitian-born Eddie Alexander of Valley Stream has pleaded guilty to approximately $249 million in fraud. According to the prosecutor's office, he took advantage of the trust of the church and his community, and took money from "poor and hardworking victims."
The fraudulent scheme ran for eight months - from September 2021 to May 2022. Alexander promised investors a return of 5% or more every week on their investments. As a result, he managed to attract about 25,000 people to his platform EminiFX Inc. However, in reality, the investment represented a classic Ponzi scheme - existing investors were rewarded for attracting new investors.
Alexander lost $6 million trying to trade investors' money, and he sent another $14 million to his personal bank account. He also spent $155,000 to buy a BMW car and another $13,000 to buy a Mercedes Benz.
Support for the Haitian-American community
After his arrest, Alexander received support from the Haitian-American community. Many of its members came to his court appearances to protest the allegations. They were wearing the same light green T-shirts with a photo of Alexander, the EminiFX logo and the words "Together we rise", "Break the chains" and "Justice for all".
The prosecutor's office asked Kronan to sentence Alexander to 10 years, the maximum term stipulated in his plea agreement with the government. However, the judge sent him to prison for nine years. At the time of sentencing, Alexander's supporters looked dissatisfied, and one woman used an extra T-shirt to wet a tear. At the time of sentencing, Alexander's supporters looked dissatisfied, and one woman used an extra T-shirt to wet a tear.
Scammers stole almost half a billion dollars in six months
The crypto industry's losses reached $479.4 million in the first half of 2023. This amount was about five times less compared to the same period last year.
In addition, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols were hit 98% of cases in the first half of 2023 – they accounted for $414 of all stolen money. Most of the attacks on projects took place on the Ethereum network. In this blockchain, losses reached $287 million.
