BitConnect: Soon the epilogue of the 1st Crypto Ponzi?

Who remembers BitConnect, the first crypto Ponzi scheme to make Crypto.gouv green with envy? The old timers still remember Carlos Matos’ show (souvenir video below). Still others cry over their naivety at the time. Well, the founder of this scam, Satish Kumbhani, has been traced to his native India. A little throwback to this Machiavellian scam.

BitConnect had a strange operation for a bitcoin (BTC) lover: in fact, you had to exchange your precious cryptos for a token called BCC and block it on the platform. This loan was to provide totally insane returns. A tremendous propaganda campaign coupled with a sponsorship system drives the counters crazy and drives up the bids. BCC is listed on Coinmarketcap, reaches $477 and takes 7th place in the ranking. Led by a master hand!

Bearmarket: the pyramid crumbles

Vitalik Buterin, Hasheur and some others had warned: this system is weird, it smells scorched. But here is greed that makes you deaf and blind, even a little aggressive. Then comes the bitcoin crash and everything collapses: January 17, 2018 is the end of BitConnect. Complaints rain down in the United States and the promoters of the BCC are prosecuted (a priori the French promoters always sleep on their two ears, the hexagonal justice not having perhaps, at this time, the means to manage this kind of fraud ).

Complaints are still being investigated

A class action is organized immediately at Uncle Sam’s and is still in progress. The enthusiastic singer Carlos Matos is released and some have had to pay heavy fines. Glenn Arcaro will have a new hearing in September 2022, he faces 20 years in prison. But the main author of this phenomenal scam, Satish Kumbhani, has disappeared and the SEC is looking for him. The charges become clearer, on February 25, 2022, the SEC writes :

Kumbhani abruptly closed the loan program. He then instructed his network of promoters to fraudulently manipulate and support the price of BitConnect’s digital currency, (…) in order to create the false appearance of legitimate market demand for BCCs. »

Satish Kumbhani faces 70 years in prison. The FBI is on his trail, so far without success.

In the footsteps of Mr. BitConnect in India

Eventually the FBI says it has located Satish Kumbhani in his native country. The Indian authorities realize that there are also victims at home, including a lawyer in the city of Pune. According to the media Indian Express “, he would only have just filed a complaint: he would have lost 220 bitcoins worth 420 million rupees (5.2 million dollars). It must be believed that not everyone has the same notion of the passage of time. The vice is finally tightening on the founder of BitConnect.

Mister BitConnect stole over $2.5 billion and possibly a whole lot more. As some victims did not file a complaint, the figure is undoubtedly understated. The market capitalization of the BCC was 3.5 billion during the final thrust. How many victims in France?

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