CFTC Sues Pastor for Alleged Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme
In a lawsuit filed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a pastor was accused of marketing a $6 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scam to 1,500 individuals, some of whom were his Washington state church members. On December 10, the CFTC announced that it had sued Francier Obando Pinillo for fraud and misappropriation concerning what it described as a multilevel marketing scheme.
The CFTC accused Pinillo, a pastor at a Spanish church in Pasco, Washington, of using social media to tell his followers and others that he ran a trading platform that paid users for engaging in high-performance cryptocurrency trading. The CFTC filed the complaint in a Spokane federal court on December 9.
Crypto Ponzi Scheme: Pastor Promised False Profits, Claims CFTC
From November 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023, Pinillo allegedly served as the CEO of Solanofi, Solano Partners Ltd., and Solano Capital Investments. He claimed that these companies had created a Solano ecosystem in which he traded Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of customers. According to the CFTC, Pinillo told clients that Solanofi would utilize a bot and other cryptocurrency trading software to generate monthly profits of up to 34.9%.
According to the complaint, a firm called Solanofi 2.0 also provided a staking solution for Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, USDT, and Dogecoin, which guaranteed profits to customers. Users were presented with an online dashboard that purportedly showed account statements and provided a 15% referral fee to entice others to join as part of the CFTC-alleged scheme. The agency is requesting a trading prohibition, a permanent injunction, the loss of all funds made through the scheme, and compensation to the duped clients.
These representations and account statements were false. There was no automated computer trading program, there were no customer accounts, there was not trading taking place or profits generated, and Defendant was misappropriating all digital and fiat assets customers transferred. Defendant’s solicitations were almost exclusively in Spanish, which permitted him to abuse his position of trust as a pastor
the CFTC
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