TL;DR Beakdown
- Robert Farkas bags 1 year 1 day in jail
- Farkas may lies to investors
- Aftermath of celebrities endorsement in the project
Robert Farkas, a fraudulent ICO operator for an investment firm, Centra Tech has been sentenced to one year, one day in jail by a Manhattan court. He was charged for felony and found guilty.
Centra tech is a Miami-based company he co-founded and that purported to offer cryptocurrency-related financial products.
The fraudulent ICO operator garnered $25 million investment during the ICO in 2017 and managed to get celebrity endorsement from boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and music star Dj Khaled.
Farkas also lied about his firm, Centra Tech being a licensed money service business in 38 states. The fraudulent ICO operator also claimed that his firm was a partner with Visa and Mastercard all to lure victims into investing in its ICO.
Much has been said about ICO’s with this type of scam is one of the most populous in the crypto space.
The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission have also warned potential investors of increased risk of fraud and manipulations that come in an ICO stating that the markets for these assets are less regulated than traditional capital markets.
Many lies of Frakas, fraudulent ICO operator
Apart from celebrities endorsement and money operation license claims in 38 states, the fraudulent ICO operator fed victims other lies to further enhance his scam operation.
According to a Department of Justice release, Farkas in oral and written offering materials disseminated via the internet claimed Centra Tech had an experienced executive team with impressive credentials, including a purported CEO named “Michael Edwards” with more than 20 years of banking industry experience.
They also claimed that Centra Tech had formed partnerships with Bancorp, Visa, and Mastercard to issue Centra Cards licensed by Visa or Mastercard.
Aftermath of Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled endorsement
After both celebrities involvement, the where dragged in legal battles by investors for promoting the fraudulent ICO.
Both were, however, lucky after a judge ruled that the investors who brought the legal action failed to prove they bought tokens as a direct result of the pair’s actions.
They managed to dodge sanctions based on Judge Robert Scola ruling.
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