Ποινική δίωξη για εξαπάτηση στον CEO της GAW Miners

Η επιτροπή κεφαλαιαγοράς των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών(SEC) έκανε μήνυση στον Josh Garza CEO της άλλοτε δημοφιλούς cloud mining εταιρείας GAW Miners για εξαπάτηση και δημιουργία ponzi πυραμίδας.

Σύμφωνα με το κατηγορητήριο η GAW Miners πoυλούσε Bitcoin mining συμβόλαια χωρίς να έχει διαθέσιμη την επεξεργαστική ισχύ που υποσχόταν πληρώνοντας τα υποτιθέμενα έσοδα των πελατών της από το mining με την μορφή πυραμίδας ponzi.

Washington D.C., Dec. 1, 2015 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two Bitcoin mining companies and their founder with conducting a Ponzi scheme that used the lure of quick riches from virtual currency to defraud investors.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Connecticut, “mining” for Bitcoin or other virtual currencies means applying computer power to try to solve complex equations that verify a group of transactions in that virtual currency.  The first computer or collection of computers to solve an equation is awarded new units of that virtual currency.

The SEC alleges that Homero Joshua Garza perpetrated the fraud through his Connecticut-based companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner by purporting to offer shares of a digital Bitcoin mining operation.  In reality, GAW Miners and ZenMiner did not own enough computing power for the mining it promised to conduct, so most investors paid for a share of computing power that never existed.  Returns paid to some investors came from proceeds generated from sales to other investors.

Συγκεκριμένα ο Josh Garza πούλησε σε 10.000 πελάτες από το Αύγουστο του 2014 εώς τον Δεκέμβριο του ίδιου χρόνου Bitcoin mining συμβόλαια ύψους 20 εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων  με υπόσχεση κερδοφορίας για την επένδυση τους χωρίς όμως ποτέ να μπορέσει να την εκπληρώσει. Αποτέλεσμα ήταν από ένα σημείο και μετά να πληρώνει το Bitcoin mining των πελατών του από τα νέα συμβόλαια κάτι που είχε ως συνέπεια την κατάρρευση και χρεωκοπία της εταιρείας.

According to the SEC’s complaint:

• From August 2014 to December 2014, Garza and his companies sold $20 million worth of purported shares in a digital mining contract they called a Hashlet.
• More than 10,000 investors purchased Hashlets, which were touted as always profitable and never obsolete.
• Although Hashlets were depicted in GAW Miners’ marketing materials as a physical product or piece of mining hardware, the promised contract purportedly entitled the investor to control a share of computing power that GAW Miners claimed to own and operate.
• Investors were misled to believe they would share in returns earned by the Bitcoin mining activities when in reality GAW Miners directed little or no computing power toward any mining activity.
• Because Garza and his companies sold far more computing power than they owned, they owed investors a daily return that was larger than any actual return they were making on their limited mining operations.
• Therefore, investors were simply paid back gradually over time under the mantra of “returns” out of funds that Garza and his companies collected from other investors.
• Most Hashlet investors never recovered the full amount of their investments, and few made a profit.

Ο SEC πιστεύει ότι ο Josh Garza εσκεμμένα είχε στήσει αυτή την απάτη προς προσωπικό του όφελος. Αξίζει να σημειώσουμε ότι ο Josh Garza είναι και δημιουργός του ψηφιακού νομίσματος Paycoin που και αυτό είχε αντιμετωπιστεί με έντονη δυσπιστία από την cryptocurrency κοινότητα ως ένα άλλο scam coin.