Arthur T Knackerbracket has found an interesting story: Bogus Bitcoiners battered with US$12 million penalty in The Register.
The US SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) won its case against two Bitcoin companies — GAW Miners and ZenMiner — operated by Homero Joshua Garza that bilked 10,000 investors out of about $20 million in what was essentially a Ponzi scheme. The companies purported to sell shares in cloud-based Bitcoin mining machinery, but "the companies never owned enough computing power to be serious miners." The companies were hit with a $12 million penalty. Garza is not, however, off the hook as he is facing a separate criminal trial and he is in talks with the SEC about how to handle the claims lodged against him.
Here's the literal money quote:
Ironically, the Bitcoin price ended 2015 bouncing between US$400 and $450. Had the two companies simply bought Bitcoin with their $20 million, on today's $2,740 price for the crypto-currency there'd be around $140 million in the kitty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 09 2017, @02:16PM (1 child)
They wanted to invest in ducks?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 09 2017, @06:45PM
French ducks quack: "Coin!"
TMYK...