The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has recently reported that one Benjamin Reynolds, who was reported to have championed a $147 million crypto scam in 2017, is still missing.
Reynolds, as reported, was the director of Control-Finance, a cryptocurrency investment establishment based in the United Kingdom. He has been alleged by the CFTC for taking 22,859 BTC from over 1,000 investors who traded on the platform between May and September 2017.
CFTC complained that Control-Finance persuaded investors with guaranteed promises of 45% monthly trading profits. The proclaimed crypto-investment company deceived unsuspecting customers by presenting falsified weekly trade reports, while in reality, the accused Benjamin Reynolds owned establishment, made no trade on investors behalf.
However, Reynolds allegedly abandoned Control-Finance in September 2017, shut down his social media handles, and promised to return investors funds after sorting some misappropriation of costumers Bitcoin deposit, with an assurance that the investor’s holdings are safe with the company.
Reynolds has since disappeared from the face of the earth, abandoning the company. All efforts by the CTFC to track him down had failed and the Commission has filed for court prosecution despite the culprit’s absence.
CTFC Aims at Achieving Justice Even if Reynolds Could not Be Found
Rebecca Rettig, a partner at US law firm FisherBroyles, explained that CFTC after obtaining a default judgment will be able to track all available assets that belong to the missing scammer, especially his assets in the United States as there was no international manhunt.
Also Marc Powers, a partner at the US law firm said CTFC could press for criminal charges against Reynolds and could freeze and obtain any of his assets using any available tools. Powers further reiterated that the agency will have to find and bring Reynolds to the United States if it wishes to achieve criminal contempt proceedings.
“Bitcoin Scam” Dominates Chinese Search Engine Top Suggestion
In a similar development, top suggestions of a leading Chinese internet search engine Baidu is dominated by the term “Bitcoin scam”, while the search engine ranks “Bitcoin Price” as its second most popular Bitcoin search phrase.
Even though China has grown to become one of the most advanced in blockchain services, the country has been a great resistance against Bitcoin and the idea of cryptocurrency since inception.
However, China has in recent times, looks to have some openness toward cryptocurrency with the launch of its native digital currency, but the country is still skeptical towards Bitcoin and its activities despite its growing popularity.
However, top crypto icons and founder like Brad Garlinghouse has praised the effort of Chinese in their attempt to build a national digital currency.
