A multi-national group of individuals has been accused of running a $1.2 million forex and Bitcoin fraud scheme, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The defendants include Uduakobong Udo Inyangudo, also known as Alexander Uti Bassey, of Lagos, Nigeria, and five U.S. residents: Vanessa B. Okocha and Amen M. Okundaye, both of Houston, Texas; Charles A. Ocho of Grant Prairie, Texas; Diego I. Okeho of Brooklyn, Maryland; and Daniell N. Liggins of Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. Victor O. Edeh of Waltham, Massachusetts and Tochukwu Edeh of Jacksonville, Florida are also named in the complaint.
The CFTC alleges that from approximately June 2016 to February 2019, the defendants used the website Primefx.org to fraudulently solicit funds from customers in the U.S. and internationally, promising returns through trading in foreign currency (forex) and Bitcoin. Uti Bassey is identified as the administrator of the website and the individual responsible for its domain.
According to the complaint, Uti Bassey engaged in fraudulent solicitation, making false and misleading claims about managed account trading. Customers were directed to deposit funds into personal bank accounts controlled by the other defendants, who then allegedly misappropriated the funds. The CFTC claims the defendants facilitated the misappropriation of “virtually all” of the customer funds.
The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and injunctions to prevent further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations. The agency is also acknowledging the cooperation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, as well as financial regulators in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and China.
Glenn Chernigoff, Kara Mucha, James H. Holl, III, Erica Bodin, and Rick Glaser of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement are leading the case. The CFTC urges the public to verify the registration of any financial entity before investing and provides resources on its website to identify and report potential fraud.
Source: CFTC.gov
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