The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is having trouble locating Benjamin Reynolds, who is allegedly responsible for a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme worth over $140 million.
Financial news outlet FinanceFeeds reported on Jan. 6 that the CFTC has filed a motion with the New York Southern District Court. More precisely, the regulator filed for the service of process on Reynolds by publication on The Daily Telegraph and extending for sixty days the time limit by which the service must be effected on him and his firm.
A major Bitcoin ponzi scheme
In mid-June, the CFTC launched action against the company over an alleged $147 million Bitcoin (BTC) Ponzi. The CFTC filed against the Reynolds with the aforementioned court for allegedly defrauding over a thousand investors of at least 22,858 Bitcoin.
In a memorandum accompanying the motion, the regulator reportedly explains that it attempted to serve Reynolds at the address listed as his “service address” in the incorporation papers of Control Finance, the firm that managed the scheme. When the process server arrived at the address, he discovered that it does not actually exist.
The CFTC also tried to email Reynolds at the only known email address associated with him and his company, but got back an error message indicating that the message could not be delivered. The regulator learned from affected investors that the Ulsan District Prosecutors’ Office in South Korea is also investigating the scheme, but had similarly failed to contact Reynolds.
Cryptocurrency scams
Scammers have long been using the speculative enthusiasm surrounding cryptocurrencies to lure in and defraud unsuspecting investors. As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin scam ads featuring the likeness of Martin Lewis have continued to appear on social media despite Lewis’ previous efforts to prevent such illegal practices.
One particularly famous cryptocurrency-related scam is OneCoin, which was a $4 billion pyramid scheme. The scam was first discovered in May 2015. However, proceedings are still ongoing, and OneCoin’s website shut down only at the beginning of December last year.