Prosecutors in China have charged a final four suspects of almost 100 that were said to be involved in an alleged $2 billion cryptocurrency pyramid scheme.
According to a news release from the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued Wednesday, a local prosecutor's office in Hunan province has charged the four individuals as part of a wider crackdown on "Weika Coin" - the Chinese name for OneCoin, a purported crypto investment scheme that has seen global law enforcement agencies launch investigations and issue warnings and fines.
The report indicates that the legal process launched in September 2017 and has been conducted in three phases that, in total, have seen 98 suspects prosecuted for allegedly deceiving investors across over 20 provinces in China.
The prosecutor said, according to the report, that the scheme has so far developed 140 membership layers, across seven main pyramids in China, and involved up to 2 million victims.
The amount of capital received from investors is as high as 15 billion yuan, according to the report.
Nearly 1.7 billion yuan has been recovered.
As reported by CoinDesk previously, the OneCoin cryptocurrency investment scheme, which was founded by an individual called Ruja Ignatova, has been scrutinized by police in a number of countries over suspicions that the scheme is fraudulent.
Promoters of the scheme in Italy have also been fined millions of euros.
Authorities in India have also moved to arrest suspects associated with the scheme in April of last year and subsequently brought charges against Ignatova in July.
Most recently, the Bulgarian Special Prosecutor's Office has joined forces with counterparts in Europe and the Americas to investigate the scheme.
China Prosecutes 98 Over Alleged $2 Billion OneCoin Pyramid Scheme
Published on May 23, 2018
by Coindesk | Published on Coinage
Coinage
Recent News
View All
First Mover: What's Next for Bitcoin as Wall Street Gets Vaccine Booster
Bitcoin was higher for a second day, staying in a range of between roughly $15,200 and $15,600, as news of progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine appeared to touch off a rally in U.S. stocks.
Market Wrap: Bitcoin Fails to Break $15.9K; Over 50K ETH Staked on Eth 2.0 Contract
Bitcoin gained Wednesday while Ethereum 2.0 staking has been ramping up.
Citibank Analyst Says Bitcoin Could Pass $300K by December 2021
A senior analyst at U.S.-based financial giant Citibank has penned a report drawing on similarities between the 1970s gold market and bitcoin.
Blockchain Bites: Data Unions. Hard Forks. And One Citi Analyst's Case for $300K BTC.
A Citibank managing director thinks bitcoin could hit $318,000.