Three Men Are Charged in $722 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud
Three men were charged by U.S. prosecutors with helping run a $722 million cryptocurrency fraud that amounted to a “high-tech Ponzi scheme.”
From 2014 until this month, the men operated BitClub Network, which solicited money from investors in exchange for shares in purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded them for recruiting new investors, according to prosecutors.
Matthew Brent Goettsche, 37, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, 38, and Joseph Frank Abel, 49, were arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito in New Jersey said in a statement. Two more defendants, whose names weren’t disclosed, remain at large.