The US Department of Justice has sentenced Juan Tacuri — a senior promoter of the ‘Forcount’ Crypto Ponzi scheme to 20 years in prison.
According to the order from the Southern District of New York on October 15, Tacuri was required to pay $3,610,718 in restitution and has been sentenced to one year of supervised release following his prison sentence.
The Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Judge Analisa Torres said that Tacuri’s fraudulent scheme for Forcount(which was later rebranded to Weltsys) targeted victims worldwide, but primarily attacked Spanish-speaking communities.
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Founders, including Francisley da Silva and promoters of Forcount, were found guilty of duping victims by claiming that the non-existent firm was a crypto mining and trading company. The victims were falsely promised regular payouts from Forcount’s purported operations.
Furthermore, the court found that Tacuri and others hosted “lavish events” across US interests to create a false reputation for the fictitious investment products, with a prospect to double investor capital in six months. But, the promoters stole funds from victims and spent it on luxury goods and real estate.
Investigation revealed that first reports of customers not being able to withdraw funds came to light in 2018. The fugitive group had altogether stopped responding to customer complaints in 2021. Eventually, in 2022, US prosecutors unsealed charges against Silva.
It was in June 2024 that Tacuri pleaded guilty to committing fraud and conspiracy, and, later in July, Antonia Perez Hernandez and Nestor Nunez, who were also promoters of the Forcount scheme, pleaded guilty to the same charges.
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