Two men have been arrested in Estonia for allegedly defrauding people of about $575 million in a cryptocurrency scheme.
The suspects, Sergi Potapenko and Ivan Turygin were said to have invited people to invest in their cryptocurrency token which was never developed.
The Estonian police revealed in a statement that this is one of the largest fraud cases the country has ever had to deal with.
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Proceeds from the fraud were allegedly laundered through real estate purchases and shell companies.
The US Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Nick Brown, revealed that the suspects used the mystery surrounding cryptocurrency to plan out such a large Ponzi scheme.
Brown said, “The size and scope of the alleged scheme is truly astounding. These defendants capitalized on both the allure of cryptocurrency, and the mystery surrounding cryptocurrency mining, to commit an enormous ponzi scheme.
“They lured investors with false representations and then paid early investors off with money from those who invested later. They tried to hide their ill-gotten gain in Estonian properties, luxury cars, and bank accounts and virtual currency wallets around the world. US and Estonian authorities are working to seize and restrain these assets and take the profit out of these crimes.”
