A Las Vegas man has been charged with defrauding more than 10,000 investors out of $45 million who thought they were investing in a successful venture.
The United States Department of Justice has charged a Las Vegas resident with defrauding investors out of $45 million. The Justice Department posted the charges on its official website. American Brian Lee is reported to have helped Neil Chandran, the founder of the CoinDeal fraud scheme, to defraud more than 10,000 investors.
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Prosecutors say, Lee, along with accomplices, deceived CoinDeal investors, assuring them of the legitimacy of the business family, which will not only develop its cryptocurrency but also products for the metaverse.
The prosecutor believed that Lee worked directly under Chandran, who presented as the owner of the company with the American Michael Glaspie, who, like Lee, helped to get money from investors.
In order to include the stakeholders in the plan, Lee and other promoters aroused the interest of investors by saying that the company was in negotiations with other parties in the “Consortium of rich markets”. What exactly was discussed is unclear.
The scammers named the consortium as a billionaire who sells internet (referring to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), and a billionaire who founded an electric car company (Elon Musk).
CoinDeal’s promoters argued that the investment was necessary to pay for the fees. At the same time, they promised investors that they would get a high return on investment. In fact, according to the plaintiffs, the defendants invested in luxury cars and real estate.
Note that in January 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Chandran with selling unregistered securities. According to the SEC, from January 2019 to 2022, CoinDeal’s advertisers distributed “false and misleading” statements to investors about the company’s perceived value.