A US court has ruled that the founders of EmpiresX, an illegal crypto investment platform, must pay over $130 million in fines and restitution.
The decision was announced by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which took legal action against the company’s operators for defrauding investors.
A judge in Florida, Cecilia Altonaga, issued a final ruling on February 4 against Brazilian nationals Emerson Pires and Flavio Goncalves, along with their associate Joshua Nicholas. Since the defendants did not respond to the charges in time, the case resulted in a default judgment.
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The court ordered Pires and Goncalves to pay $32.1 million in disgorgement, along with a $96.5 million civil penalty. Nicholas received smaller fines totaling $1.1 million. The ruling also permanently bans all three from participating in US financial markets.
According to court records, Pires and Goncalves convinced investors to deposit at least $40 million into their platform by promising high returns.
However, instead of using the funds as advertised, they redirected the money for personal use, including luxury purchases and travel. Some funds were also used to buy Bitcoin
$96,568.57
, Ethereum
$2,646.46
, and Tether
$1.00
, while investors were misled with fake account balances and restricted withdrawals.
Authorities were able to recover about $22.8 million in digital assets, but most of the money was never returned to its original owners.
Meanwhile, a former Google software engineer was charged by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on February 5. 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.
