SEC asset freeze "Modern Money Team"

[Yaunfitda]

SEC Obtains Assets Freeze in Cryptocurrency Mining and Trading Schemes

Litigation Release No. 24829 / June 5, 2020
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Daniel F. Putnam, Jean Paul Ramirez Rico, Angel A. Rodriguez, MMT Distribution, LLC, R & D Global, LLC, No. 20-cv-00301 (D. Utah filed May 7, 2020)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief against Daniel F. Putnam, of Utah, Jean Paul Ramirez Rico, of Colombia, and Angel A. Rodriguez, of Utah, who allegedly defrauded investors of more than $12 million in two cryptocurrency-related schemes.

The SEC's complaint, filed under seal on May 7, 2020, charges Putnam, Ramirez, Rodriguez, MMT Distribution, and R & D Global with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint further charges Putnam, Ramirez, and MMT Distribution with violating the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act, and names Putnam's father, Richard T. Putnam, as a relief defendant. In addition to the asset freeze and other emergency relief obtained, the SEC seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2020/lr24829.htm

The name of the business itself sounds like a Ponzi scheme. And it is a allege that the money raised didn't go towards any mining asset but directly to the wallets of the accused. And that the Bitfinex account that Ramirez controlled has only 50 BTC and not 260 they initially reported.

For sure those criminals are going to the jail for this, $12 million is a huge money that crypto investors lost here. I hope that by freezing their assets, the victims can get some refunds.

[milewilda]

SEC Obtains Assets Freeze in Cryptocurrency Mining and Trading Schemes


https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2020/lr24829.htm

The name of the business itself sounds like a Ponzi scheme. And it is a allege that the money raised didn't go towards any mining asset but directly to the wallets of the accused. And that the Bitfinex account that Ramirez controlled has only 50 BTC and not 260 they initially reported.

For sure those criminals are going to the jail for this, $12 million is a huge money that crypto investors lost here. I hope that by freezing their assets, the victims can get some refunds.

Ive done some research on whats MMT and its website which is http://www.modernmoneyteam.com/0: which do shows that this trading community which do involves Forex and Binary options.
By the looks of the website itself then you can really tell that this one is really shady and these kind of lines or schemes are pretty obvious but there are still lots of people who do basically
fall into trap which do really believe on making easy money.$12M total for investors funds?. Hopefully they wont really totally freeze it and would give them back into its
rightful owner if not then that will just basically go to their own pockets. lol

[avikz]

Lol! The website looks like a cheap shit. I wonder how they have convinced the investors to believe in them with $12 million bloody dollars. That's crazy! And to answer Yuanfitda, the main reason for such action from SEC is narrated in SEC website itself. Let me quote that for you,

The complaint alleges that Putnam, Ramirez, and Rodriguez, then raised additional funds by offering so-called "cryptocurrency trading packages" to investors with the potential for high returns. In reality, as alleged, the defendants misappropriated investor funds for personal use and to make Ponzi-like distributions to earlier investors

So the main charge is " misappropriation of investor's money". Good that SEC brought them under the hand of law. Such kind of frauds usually deframes the cryptocurrency in general!

[Yaunfitda]

Lol! The website looks like a cheap shit. I wonder how they have convinced the investors to believe in them with $12 million bloody dollars. That's crazy! And to answer Yuanfitda, the main reason for such action from SEC is narrated in SEC website itself. Let me quote that for you,

The complaint alleges that Putnam, Ramirez, and Rodriguez, then raised additional funds by offering so-called "cryptocurrency trading packages" to investors with the potential for high returns. In reality, as alleged, the defendants misappropriated investor funds for personal use and to make Ponzi-like distributions to earlier investors

So the main charge is " misappropriation of investor's money". Good that SEC brought them under the hand of law. Such kind of frauds usually deframes the cryptocurrency in general!

Probably this is another test case on how crypto investors blindly trust on someone without doing any proper research. I do agree that the website itself is a giveaway, but for reasons we really don't understand, they still put money and those scammers really run with literally millions and millions of dollars.

And even if they have been called out last January, people still trust them. We can only shake our heads here, but at least the SEC has put a stop on them by freezing their assets. Might be too late though. As they have personally used the money for their your gains and probably are left with just a couple of million to distribute to those victims, I assume.

[Harlot]

It's the typical crypto related scam we will see in the news everyday you'll be surprised that this type of schemes are happening globally but what they are doing is actually brilliant. Since the "crypto industry" is pretty new and a lot of people still don't know it fraudsters like them are taking advantage of every victims lack of knowledge when it comes to cryptocurrencies, for instance they will offer this types of investments saying that mining ir profitable or  trading crypto is profitable as well and all they need is their money so they can have a percentage of what they are doing after all the sweet talk and manipulation is over if the person bites they'll immediately become victims. It's a good thing that these guys are caught more often than not it would take years for the authorities before they are able to find them.

[Bttzed03]

~ I hope that by freezing their assets, the victims can get some refunds.

~
Hopefully they wont really totally freeze it and would give them back into its rightful owner if not then that will just basically go to their own pockets. lol

AFAIK, the assets that were frozen will be liquidated and the proceeds will be distributed to the victims but that's after a court ruling. That process will probably take months or even years depending on the case.


I see a lot of busted ponzi companies/groups like this in our country (check list here) but not often in first world countries. Once in a while, I get reminded that ignorance and greed are universal.

[Yaunfitda]

I'm not surprised at all but this kind of scheme, I have heard this kind of Ponzi-like scheme being pulled  since I joined crypto. But what makes me wonder is how people could really invest when you can smell that this is a classic Ponzi. I like to see other countries as well, wielding there power just like what US SEC is doing. They have been "flexing" their muscle, and suing every crypto project they found in violation of their law. I think it will be good if other nation see this kind of blue print to chase this fraudster.

It's the typical crypto related scam we will see in the news everyday you'll be surprised that this type of schemes are happening globally but what they are doing is actually brilliant. Since the "crypto industry" is pretty new and a lot of people still don't know it fraudsters like them are taking advantage of every victims lack of knowledge when it comes to cryptocurrencies, for instance they will offer this types of investments saying that mining ir profitable or  trading crypto is profitable as well and all they need is their money so they can have a percentage of what they are doing after all the sweet talk and manipulation is over if the person bites they'll immediately become victims. It's a good thing that these guys are caught more often than not it would take years for the authorities before they are able to find them.

[bhadz]

I've heard such scam schemes involving trading forex, stocks and cryptocurrencies. They're making it as a trading company that generates huge money which they can front to their upcoming and interested investors. That's where the scam goes, they'll create fake win trades so they can attract their investors. SEC should just return the money to the victims.

[Baofeng]

I've heard such scam schemes involving trading forex, stocks and cryptocurrencies. They're making it as a trading company that generates huge money which they can front to their upcoming and interested investors. That's where the scam goes, they'll create fake win trades so they can attract their investors. SEC should just return the money to the victims.

It's more prevalent to forex and stocks in the past. But when cryptocurrencies started to enter the picture specially in 2017, there's a lot of scams schemes being pulled by those actors, but only a few have been caught in recent times because of the nature of crypto. But it seems that US SEC is changing that perception because they have been extending their hands to those scammers this year. No doubt that SEC, once they are done with their investigations and the full hands of the law has been handed, they will return what is due to those victims here.

[Kemarit]

I've heard such scam schemes involving trading forex, stocks and cryptocurrencies. They're making it as a trading company that generates huge money which they can front to their upcoming and interested investors. That's where the scam goes, they'll create fake win trades so they can attract their investors. SEC should just return the money to the victims.

It's more prevalent to forex and stocks in the past. But when cryptocurrencies started to enter the picture specially in 2017, there's a lot of scams schemes being pulled by those actors, but only a few have been caught in recent times because of the nature of crypto. But it seems that US SEC is changing that perception because they have been extending their hands to those scammers this year. No doubt that SEC, once they are done with their investigations and the full hands of the law has been handed, they will return what is due to those victims here.

They have been warned already, so it's about time for SEC to crack down this fly by night investments platforms to clear crypto space of this scammers and put them to jail to send a very strong message out there.

It will be interesting to see how long this criminals will serve jail time. This is no joke, that's a lot of money "stolen" to begin with. They have violated "Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933". I'm not a lawyer but it seems that this is a Federal law, so probably more than 10 - 20 years?

[Yaunfitda]

It will be interesting to see how long this criminals will serve jail time. This is no joke, that's a lot of money "stolen" to begin with. They have violated "Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933". I'm not a lawyer but it seems that this is a Federal law, so probably more than 10 - 20 years?

We all know how justice system works in the US, and that the law they violated seems very hard to win so probably the judge will handed them jail time just like the rest of criminals who violated the SEC Act of 1934, swift and hard 25 years max.

[Harlot]

It will be interesting to see how long this criminals will serve jail time. This is no joke, that's a lot of money "stolen" to begin with. They have violated "Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933". I'm not a lawyer but it seems that this is a Federal law, so probably more than 10 - 20 years?

We all know how justice system works in the US, and that the law they violated seems very hard to win so probably the judge will handed them jail time just like the rest of criminals who violated the SEC Act of 1934, swift and hard 25 years max.

I did a little research about this one and for investment as well as securities scams in the United States most of the economical related crimes don't reach the maximum penalty in the US since I think this is not the kind of crime the US sees a maximum penalty is worth it for criminals, investment scams can be counted as white collar crimes where they are punished softer compared to violent crimes. The United States Sentencing Commission provided a data where it said that crimes related to investment only averaged for 54 months in prison sentencing.

[Baofeng]

It will be interesting to see how long this criminals will serve jail time. This is no joke, that's a lot of money "stolen" to begin with. They have violated "Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933". I'm not a lawyer but it seems that this is a Federal law, so probably more than 10 - 20 years?

We all know how justice system works in the US, and that the law they violated seems very hard to win so probably the judge will handed them jail time just like the rest of criminals who violated the SEC Act of 1934, swift and hard 25 years max.

I did a little research about this one and for investment as well as securities scams in the United States most of the economical related crimes don't reach the maximum penalty in the US since I think this is not the kind of crime the US sees a maximum penalty is worth it for criminals, investment scams can be counted as white collar crimes where they are punished softer compared to violent crimes. The United States Sentencing Commission provided a data where it said that crimes related to investment only averaged for 54 months in prison sentencing.

Very interesting report, but I'm not really sure if those investment scams included crypto related already. And it's just an average, maybe we can see some variance specially applying law to crypto scams. So let's see how they are going to sentence the people behind ''54' months average is like a walk in the park for this criminals.