Assistant U. S. Attorneys Daniel C. Silva, Mark W. Pletcher, Lisa Sanniti and Carl Brooker
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY—September 1, 2021
SAN DIEGO—Glenn Arcaro of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today in federal court for his participation in a massive conspiracy involving BitConnect, a cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded investors from the United States and abroad of over $2 billion. The BitConnect scheme is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency fraud ever charged criminally.
As admitted in documents entered today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin, Arcaro conspired with others to exploit investor interest in cryptocurrency by fraudulently marketing BitConnect’s proprietary coin offering and digital currency exchange as a lucrative investment.
Arcaro further admitted that he and others conspired to mislead investors about BitConnect’s purported proprietary technology, known as the “BitConnect Trading Bot” and “Volatility Software,” as being able to generate substantial profits and guaranteed returns by using investors’ money to trade on the volatility of cryptocurrency exchange markets. In truth, BitConnect operated a textbook Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors.
“Arcaro and his confidantes preyed on investor interest in cryptocurrency. As a result, a staggering number of individuals lost an enormous amount of money,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman of the…
