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Bitclub Crypto Ponzi Scheme Suspects Petition Court For Release Citing Coronavirus Fears

Two men accused of operating a crypto Ponzi scheme, the BitClub Network, which defrauded thousands of investors out of $722 million, have requested a New Jersey federal court to grant them a temporary release. The two prisoners have petitioned a New Jersey federal judge as they fear they could contract the coronavirus if they are not freed from the enclosed county jail environment.

New Jersey Jail Facing Safety and Health Concerns

Jobadiah Weeks and Matthew Goettsche filed separate motions on March 20 and 23, asking the court to consider releasing them from the Essex county correctional facility in Newark, New Jersey.

In their submissions, Weeks and Goettsche claim that they are in a poor health environment. They argue that they are not able to follow medical advice in the prison as hand sanitizers are inadequate, and inmates are mostly in close contact with each other in jail.

Weeks’ lawyer mention that the county jail had an extremely poor record of maintaining inmates’ health, and its measure to prevent the novel coronavirus outbreak does little to protect the health of innates. He referred to findings publicly announced last year by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, which highlighted concerns at the jail that showed major threats to the safety and health of its inmates.

The Inspector-General recognized roof leaks causing mildew and mold growth in all prison housing units where detainees are being held and food safety issues such as expired, spoiled, or raw meat, moldy and expired bread, foul-smelling and unrecognizable hamburgers, and raw chicken.

Weeks’ attorney argued: “Given the noted risk of illness through inadequate food service and environmental safety at the Essex County correctional facility, a swift outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility is virtually inevitable.”

The lawyers also claimed that such confinement within the facility would place greater restrictions on contact with their legal counsel that could severely interfere with the ability of Weeks and Goettsche to prepare their defense cases ahead of their fraud trials.

Weeks and Goettsche are accused of operating $722 million cryptocurrency fraud, which amounted to a high-tech Ponzi scheme. From 2014 to December 2019, the two men operated BitClub network that used promises of a huge return if investors joined the crypto investing club. The prosecution accused the men behind BitClub network of distributing misleading and false information to investors, a scheme that purported to demonstrate profit generated by the mining pool. U.S authorities charged them with committing wire fraud and conspiracy to sell unregistered securities.

PlusToken Ponzi Dumping BTC

Bitcoin’s recent price decline may have been prompted by another set of crypto scammers seeking to liquidate over 2 billion worth of cryptocurrency, which they acquired through the PlusToken Ponzi scheme.

The PlusToken scheme swindled thousands of investors out of their cryptocurrency in the promise of high returns. Liquidations of huge amounts of illicitly obtained funds are likely to cause crypto prices to fall in this nascent market. Huge amounts of Bitcoins sold by such scammers could have caused Bitcoin price drops as well as increased volatility in Bitcoin’s value. PlusToken dumps appear to coincide with whatever is affecting Bitcoin’s prices as the cryptocurrency falls soon after such occurrences.

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John McAfee is Having a Fascinating Time in Spanish Prison Says it's "Not That Bad"

John McAfee is having a fascinating time in Spanish prison after being arrested for tax evasion and fraud. The English-American computer engineer compared prison to the Hilton, without the turn down service.

Crypto personality, former US presidential candidate, and anti-virus software developer John McAfee sent a message to his Twitter followers sharing his experience in the Spanish prison after his arrest.

According to the post tweeted by his wife, Janice McAfee, things are not bad in the prison. The 75-year-old Millionaire told his wife that Spanish prison life is a fascinating experience

McAfee wrote:

“Hello from prison my friends. I am having a fascinating time. Spanish prison is not that bad. We can wear whatever clothes we want. We can smoke and socialize. It’s like the Hilton without turn down service.”

Through his wife, John McAfee continued explaining how he has been adapting to prison life and reported that he has even made new friends. He stated:

“My cell mate is an ambassador’s drug dealer, I wish I would have known him before. The prison yard is full of murderers but mostly nice people. I spend most of my time with my back to the wall. I miss and love you all. I will update you more when I am able.”

However, this is not the first time when McAfee has spent time in jail. In July 2019, law enforcement officials in the Dominican Republican arrested him and his team after they were found having many large-caliber firearms and weapons without proper authorized documents.

John McAfee Charged With US Tax Evasion

On October 5, the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) charged John McAfee with failing to file tax returns and evading taxes for four years. He was arrested in Spain, and now awaiting his extradition to the United States.

The U.S Department of Justice claimed that McAfee made over $23.1 million in income through promoting cryptocurrencies, speaking engagements, consulting work, selling his life-story rights to documentaries, among other things. Despite making such a huge income, DOJ stated that McAfee failed not only to file tax returns but also to pay taxes between 2014 and 2018 and resorted to concealing assets in the names of others.

McAfee has taunted U.S authorities many times. On June 14, he created Twitter posts while in Cuba promoting BeatzCoin (BTZC) whose current value is $0.0002, saying: “Yes SEC, I’m promoting. Fucking come and get me.” In January 2019, he tweeted that he hasn’t filed a tax return for eight years because taxation is illegal.

McAfee faces a maximum sentence of four years for failing to file his tax returns and a maximum sentence of five years for each of the five counts of tax evasion.

South Korean Crypto Exchange Fraudsters Sentenced

Six executives who were involved in the $1.5 billion (2 trillion won) South Korean cryptocurrency exchange fraud perpetrated by V Global have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to eight years; however, three of those executives were not detained so that they could fight certain charges in court.V Global was active from July 2020 to April 2021, during which time it attracted around 50,000 investors by offering them returns of 300% along with sizeable bonuses for bringing new clients.As stated in a translation of reports published on December 26 by South Korean media outlets such as Economist.co.kr, two high-ranking executives who have been identified as Mr. Yang and Mr. Oh were sentenced to respective terms of eight years and three years in prison for their participation in a scheme to defraud investors.Another four anonymous executives each got terms of three years in prison and five years of probation. However, three of the total six have not yet been jailed since they have maintained their innocence about specific charges and are exercising their right to defend themselves in court.According to reports, the court, on the other hand, showed the defendants some compassion due to the fact that the real amount of fraud and the number of investors who were affected was smaller than what was first assumed last year.This was due to subsequent evidence demonstrating that about 10,000 investors had really received returns from V Global through payments from multilevel marketing incentives like as customer recruiting bonuses, according to the reporting that Kyeongin had done in February. It is believed that a significant number of users put those proceeds back into the site before it was taken down.It was claimed in June of the previous year that the company had paid out its customer referral incentives, which were purportedly worth $1,000 each, to current investors in a Ponzi-like method by using the flood of funds from new customers.As a result of the most recent legal development, the total number of V Global executives now serving time in jail has increased to seven. This comes after the company’s CEO, who goes by the alias Mr. Lee, was given a prison sentence of 22 years in February.