Juan Tacuri, a senior promoter of the global cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme Forcount, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in federal court in New York. The sentence, handed down Tuesday, is the longest statutory sentence for Thakuri's involvement in the fraud known as FourCount, which later changed its name to Welsys.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement Wednesday that Takuri, who actively targeted Spanish-speaking communities, played a key role in defrauding thousands of victims around the world. . The scheme promised guaranteed profits from cryptocurrency trading and mining, but instead funneled victims' funds to promoters.
“Juan Takuri may have claimed to be involved in cutting-edge crypto investing, but in reality he was running a Ponzi scheme, one of the oldest tricks in the book. “U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
“Takuli was one of the most prolific promoters of the Four Count Ponzi scheme, collecting millions of dollars from working-class victims,” Williams added. “Instead of using his victims' funds as promised, he used them for himself. Today's sentence should serve as a stark reminder that fraud does not pay in the long run. .”
The forecount system operated from at least 2018 until 2021, luring investors with the promise of guaranteed returns and profits. Victims were encouraged to purchase FourCount's investment products through expos, community events, and flashy presentations. Takuri, who is based in Florida, would wear designer clothes and flaunt his wealth, prosecutors said, and would present the scheme as a path to financial freedom.
Investors were given access to an online portal where profits were allegedly accumulating, but most were unable to withdraw their funds and ultimately lost their entire investments.
As complaints mounted, promoters like Tacuri offered a new proprietary token known as “Mindexcoin,” claiming it would have value if companies accepted it for payment. In reality, the tokens had no value and victims suffered further financial losses. By 2021, the system had collapsed, payments had stopped and promoters were no longer responding to investor inquiries.
Takri, 46, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $3.6 million in ill-gotten gains, including real estate in Florida purchased with the victims' funds, and pay the same amount in restitution.
In recent years, cryptocurrency-related Ponzi schemes have continued to evolve by taking advantage of emerging technologies and trends in the cryptocurrency space. In March 2024, the SEC indicted 17 people for operating CryptoFX, a $300 million Ponzi scheme targeting more than 40,000 Latino investors. Organizers promised risk-free profits, but diverted the funds to personal use and continued to attract investments despite warnings.
Similarly, NovaTech defrauded over 200,000 investors and raised $650 million through a multi-level marketing scheme, but collapsed in 2023, leaving most participants with significant losses.
The PlusToken scam targeted investors in Asia in 2019, defrauding them of $3 billion by promising high returns through crypto wallets and exchanges. Another scam, Mirror Trading International (MTI), collapsed in 2020 after collecting $1.7 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) by falsely claiming to use an AI-powered trading bot.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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