Four men in Victoria, including a former lawyer, have been charged with helping move money from an investment scam into cryptocurrency and overseas bank accounts.
Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), announced the charges in a statement on August 7.
Dimitrios “James” Podaridis, Peter Delis, Bassilios “Bill” Floropoulos, and Harry Tsalikidis are accused of handling money linked to a fake investment scheme that ran between January and July 2021.
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While the four are not accused of creating or running the scam, ASIC said they were involved in processing the money collected from victims. Some of this money was moved from Australian bank accounts to international ones. In other cases, it was converted into cryptocurrency.
Podaridis and Floropoulos have each been charged with 28 counts of dealing with money believed to be from a serious crime. Delis faces eight charges, while Tsalikidis has been charged with 12 offenses, which include helping the others.
The scam itself used fake financial comparison sites and ads on Facebook to attract people looking for investment opportunities. Once a person showed interest, they were contacted by phone or email.
They were then sent documents that looked like they came from trusted financial companies. These materials offered fixed returns of 4.5% to 9.5%, depending on the investment period, which ranged from one to ten years.
The next court date is set for October 30, 2025, when a judge will consider whether the case should go to trial.
ASIC recently issued a warning to Bitget for offering crypto futures products without proper authorization. What did the agency say? Read the full story.
