A man from Florida claimed that he was tricked into losing $860,000 by a fake crypto training center and crypto exchange, according to a report by The Denver Post on June 21.
In a June 11 lawsuit filed in federal court, Brian Firestone accused the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC) and CoinBridge Partners of working together to make him believe he was earning large profits.
Firestone stated that the scheme began in December 2024, when a man named John Smith from ASITC contacted him with an offer to teach him how to trade crypto and gave him $500 to get started.
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According to the lawsuit, ASITC employed a method known as “signal trading”. Firestone said the $500 grew into $55,000, which encouraged him to add $50,000 of his own money in January.
However, one trade dropped his balance to $12,000. Firestone stated that ASITC pushed him to invest more. He sent $470,000 in cash and borrowed another $330,000 from the center.
In March, when he tried to participate in a trade involving USDT
$0.9966
, he could not complete the action. He was informed that a system error had occurred, which blocked the trade and erased the entire account balance.
Later, he borrowed an additional $1 million from ASITC and resumed trading. Firestone’s new balance showed $6.6 million. When the previous loan came due, he was only able to repay $200,000 in cash. However, ASITC refused to accept cryptocurrency and closed his account on May 1.
The lawsuit accused ASITC, CoinBridge, John Smith, and Raymond Torres, the founder of CoinBridge, of fraud and theft.
A federal judge in Massachusetts recently ordered My Big Coin Pay Inc., My Big Coin Inc., and their former executives to pay nearly $26 million in penalties and restitution. What happened? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
