United States Federal Prosecutors Set To Make ICO Fraudster Pay Through His Nose

The United States Federal Prosecutors are pursuing severe punishments for the deceitful Mastermind behind a 2017 High-Profile advertised Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

The prosecutors are set to plead for stringent jail terms against one of the initiators of Centra Tech. Centra Tech is the sham company that issued a 2017 ICO that saw the likes of DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather at the forefront. 

The State maintained during a court appearance on the 31st of October 2020 that Judge Lorna Schofield, United States District Judge should sentence Robert Joseph Farkas, Co-founder of the Company to “a substantial term of imprisonment” as a form of deterrence to would-be fraudsters contemplating on pulling similar stunts. 

The State submitted that:

“While legitimate ICOs represent a new and efficient means to raise capital, the loss of investor confidence that may result from fraudulent ICO offerings will make it more difficult for honest coin issuers to raise capital through the digital asset markets.” 

It continues:

“As a result, a substantial sentence in this case is needed to send a strong message to others, like the defendant, who seek to use digital assets or other new technologies to commit old-fashioned fraud.”

Earlier in June this year, Farkas had conceded to the charge of swindling unsuspecting investors of more than $25 million from July through October 2017.

The Company had painted a false picture of licensing contracts with Mastercard, Bancorp, and Visa, so as to advance its ICO and debit card product which was hyped by high profile individuals.

It was alleged that “Day in and day out, for approximately nine months, Farkas participated in a scheme that directly caused losses of tens of millions of dollars in funds from hundreds of victim investors.”

He has made some pleas for a lesser sentence to the court which has up to now been disallowed. The world awaits what will come of this case.