Financial Fraud

For defrauding numerous people out of more than 20,000 Bitcoin, a British man is to pay a record-breaking fine. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had previously moved against the British citizen Benjamin Reynolds in federal court.

The court, it has now been revealed, issued a penalty order in early March. Since it considers the guilt of the defendant as proven, this is to pay on the one hand approximately 429 million dollar (approximately 364 million euro) as punishment as well as scarcely 143 million dollar (approximately 121 million euro) as damages to 169 US customers. The number of those actually affected could be even higher.

The CFTC warns that the court's order does not automatically mean that affected parties will get their cryptoassets or their compensation payment. Because even if Reynolds can be tracked down, it may still turn out that he does not have the financial means to settle the demanded sums.

Software developer and antivirus pioneer John McAfee is to stand trial in the U.S. on charges of cryptocurrency fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Justice Department published the indictment on Friday, and McAfee faces years in prison and heavy fines if convicted.

The 75-year-old was arrested in Spain in October at the behest of U.S. law enforcement officials, who had already filed charges against him for tax evasion and unfairly promoting cryptocurrencies. A statement from McAfee was not initially available. According to U.S. authorities, he remains in custody in Spain.

The former CEO of Wirecard AG, Markus Braun, was arrested on Monday evening. Braun had been detained on suspicion of inflating Wirecard's revenues and balance sheet to make it appear more solid and attractive for investors and customers.

Wirecard acknowledged on Monday that €1.9 billion in missing cash, around a quarter of the company's assets, probably never existed in the first place.