that allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors around the world of a combined $575 million.released Monday, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin – both 37-year-old residents of Tallinn, Estonia – were partners in a series of interconnected fraudulent schemes using cryptocurrency. The two defendants allegedly used a variety of shell companies to launder the proceeds of their schemes, and spent investor funds on luxury cars and real estate in Estonia.
In May 2015, facing a growing number of angry customers, Potapenko and Turogin allegedly started a second company, HashFlare. According to prosecutors, they told their clientele that orders for mining equipment would be converted to “remote mining services” and – instead of the physical equipment they were promised – those sending funds would receive a share of the service’s profits.
HashFlare’s customers were allegedly shown statements with fraudulent crypto balances. When customers tried to cash out, prosecutors say Potapenko and Turogin attempted to give them the run-around, coming up with reasons why they could not pay out and making them jump through legal hoops, such as fulfilling know-your-customer requirements before they could be paid.
In 2018, HashFlare announced that it was shutting down, citing rising energy costs and claiming that bitcoin mining was no longer profitable even as prosecutors say Potapenko and Turogin continued mining for themselves, using miners that they’d purchased with stolen customer funds.
cheyenneligon Russian f***ers.
cheyenneligon
cheyenneligon I believe there’s a much bigger one out there , trying to figure out why nothing has happened.
cheyenneligon Nothing about SBF though.
cheyenneligon Oh no, not bilked!
cheyenneligon 💯🤗