Where there’s (a lot of) money, there’s (usually) a fraud. Especially when it comes to cryptocurrency. With shows like The Tinder Swindler and Inventing Anna showing how easy it is to scam people off their money, it is natural for the regular public to try their hand at the same. And on March 8, a brother and sister duo in the US joined the list of high-end crypto fraudsters.
John and JonAtina (Tina) Barksdale are facing criminal charges for defrauding retail investors by using the cryptocurrency Ormeus Coin, for US $124 million. The case has been filed in Manhattan federal court and the justice department claims that John lied to investors about the value and profitability of Ormeus Coin’s ‘mining’ assets.
The elaborate lies stated that the coin was being sustained by a US $250 million mining ‘operation’, which could successfully produce a monthly revenue of more than US $5 million.
Illustration: Seemon, DailyO
The brother-sister duo have also been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC claims that Jack and Tina have been able to raise US $124 million since 2017 by frauding over 20,000 investors through Ormeus Coin.
Through their company, Ormeus Global SA, the duo used multi-level marketing scemes to fraud investors and since 2017, been spending the money for personal expenses such as real estate and travel.
Ormeus Coin
Other than the classic scam…
