{"id":85088,"date":"2023-09-28T09:40:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T06:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=85088"},"modified":"2025-09-12T21:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:14:23","slug":"former-icomtech-chief-admits-involvement-in-cryptocurrency-pyramid-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/former-icomtech-chief-admits-involvement-in-cryptocurrency-pyramid-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Former IcomTech chief admits involvement in cryptocurrency pyramid scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The former executive director of IcomTech, Marco Ruiz Ochoa, admitted to deceiving investors through a cryptocurrency pyramid. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/us-v-david-carmona-et-al-22-cr-551-jlr-icomtech\">U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to court filings, 35-year-old Ochoa, along with his co-conspirators, promised clients daily returns on investments in cryptocurrency trading and mining. However, IcomTech conducted no investment activity, and its founders spent the funds on themselves.<\/p>\n<p>To sustain the appearance of a successful company, promoters appeared at events in expensive cars and wearing luxury clothing.<\/p>\n<p>From 2018, IcomTech clients attempted to withdraw funds but faced various excuses and delays, as well as the need to pay a previously undisclosed commission.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of 2019, the pyramid collapsed.<\/p>\n<p>Ochoa pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic communications. He faces up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>In May, the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CFTC<\/span> also brought charges against Ochoa and other IcomTech executives, including David Carmona, Juan Arellano Parra, and Moises Valdez. The agency said that their scheme targeted Spanish-speaking communities.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier ForkLog reported that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced the co-founder of the international cryptocurrency pyramid AirBit Club Pablo Renato Rodriguez <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/airbit-club-co-founder-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison\">to 12 years in prison<\/a>. He promised daily earnings from investments in cryptocurrency trading and mining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former IcomTech chief Marco Ruiz Ochoa admitted to deceiving investors through a cryptocurrency pyramid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1162,1163,26],"class_list":["post-85088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-court-cases","tag-ponzi-schemes","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"45","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85090,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85088\/revisions\/85090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}