A crypto-savvy brother-sister team has been accused of running a $124 million scam on investors in a crypto-mining operation purported to be one of the biggest in the world, but that was virtually worthless.
John Barksdale, 40, has been charged criminally with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. His sister, JonAtina Barksdale, who goes by Tina, was hit with civil charges by the SEC, alleging she spearheaded the effort’s social-media campaigns. “$250 Million Cryptocurrency Mining Farm Revealed in Legal Audit by Ormeus Coin,” read a caption to an ad for the coin that appeared on a jumbotron in Times Square in 2018, images of which the pair used to promote their business online, according to prosecutors.
Investors deserve it, it’s a pyramid scheme, high risk and high reward. The risks were calculated, they knew it could be bullshit