Russian Founder of DeFi Platform Forces Involved in $340 Million Crypto Ponzi Scheme
A federal grand jury in the District of Oregon on Wednesday returned an indictment charging the founder of a DeFi crypto investment platform with what authorities say is a global Ponzi scheme. An announcement by the US Department of Justice revealed that the organization, FORCES, had collected approximately $340 million from its victims.
All four defendants – Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblomska, Mikhail Sergeev, and Sergey Maslakov – are citizens of the Russian Federation and some of them use their website and social media to disseminate a valid and attractive and low-risk business opportunity. and use more than one name to denote the occasion. If we talk about, for example, Sergeev introduced himself as Mike Mooney or Gleb Milian.
Forsage was advertised to the public as a decentralized matrix project based on network marketing and smart contracts and was in fact set up and operated as a scheme and investment scheme that defrauded investors around the world . The defendants each face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and, if convicted, face up to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, up to and including a prison sentence. Russian citizens deployed smart contracts on the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Tron blockchains, according to court documents, and an analysis of the code showed that as soon as someone bought alleged slots in the smart construct, they invested in forces. The funds were used to make payments to investors as before. U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Natalie Waite emphasizes that the indictments are the result of a months-long investigation and “a complex and difficult effort to bring charges against foreign actors using the latest technology to perpetrate fraud in emerging financial markets.” Which is possible only with the latest technology and perfect coordination of several law enforcement agencies”.
Blockchain forensics confirms that more than 80 percent of FORES investors received less ETH back than they invested in their ETH program and also by the founders. At least one smart contract was used to divert investor funds to controlled cryptocurrency accounts. Forces was launched online in January 2020, and the indictment of those based in Russia comes after August last year, and the Securities and Exchange Commission indicted 11 people and the platform’s co-founders and seven promoters for their involvement Was. The allegation has been proven in creating and promoting fake crypto pyramids and Ponzi schemes.
