A court in Massachusetts has ordered the people behind My Big Coin to pay almost $25.8 million as a punishment to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This decision was made on Wednesday, and the court has ordered My Big Coin Pay, Inc., and My Big Coin, Inc.
The court has also targeted its leaders, Mark Gillespie and John Roche, who are involved in tricking the investors. The court has declared that the fraudsters have to pay $19.32 million as a fine and an extra $6.44 million to give back money to 28 investors they have cheated.
As per the reports, the scam happened between January 2014 and June 2017. Gillespie, Roche, and another person named Randall Crater lied to people by saying My Big Coin (MBC) was supported by gold and was worth a lot, with good trading opportunities. With their lies, they stole more than $6 million from victims.
As part of the court’s decision, Mark Gillespie, John Roche, and their companies can no longer take part in any market activities overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The case that was filed against a fourth person, Michael Kruger, was stopped because he passed away.
The CFTC said that these individuals and companies had tricked people with fake promises about a cryptocurrency, and now they have to pay a big amount to make up for it. Randall Crater was also found guilty in July 2022 of crimes like wire fraud and running an illegal money business. Earlier this year, he was told to pay back $7.6 million to the investors he had cheated.
In January 2023, he was sent to prison for more than eight years. Even though his lawyers tried to appeal in February 2024, saying his rights were violated, a higher court said no to a new trial. The CFTC has warned that the people who were cheated might not get all their money back because the people who did the scam might not have enough money or property to pay back the debts.
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