Assistant U. S. Attorneys Daniel C. Silva, Mark W. Pletcher, Lisa Sanniti, and Carl Brooker
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – February 25, 2022
SAN DIEGO – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani, a citizen and resident of India, with multiple crimes for his alleged role in a massive criminal conspiracy involving the cryptocurrency company he founded, BitConnect.
The indictment alleges that Kumbhani and his co-conspirators defrauded global investors of over $2 billion—believed to be the largest cryptocurrency fraud ever charged. This indictment follows the September 2021 guilty plea by BitConnect’s lead U.S. promoter, Glenn Arcaro (21-CR-2542-TWR).
The indictment alleges that BitConnect was a textbook Ponzi scheme. BitConnect solicited investors to use its “Lending Program,” which touted BitConnect’s purported proprietary technology, known as the “BitConnect Trading Bot” and “Volatility Software,” as being able to generate substantial profits and guaranteed returns. The indictment alleges that in reality, the purported technologies generated no such profits, and merely functioned as a cover for the Ponzi scheme. In sum, earlier BitConnect investors were paid with money from later investors to promote the fraudulent scheme.
As part the criminal conspiracy, Kumbhani was further charged with a separate conspiracy seeking to commit commodities price manipulation for his attempt to artificially inflate the…
