SEC Alleges 'Bitcoin Savings & Trust' Is a Ponzi Scheme

New submitter craighansen writes "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against a man they allege ran a Ponzi scheme using Bitcoin. According to the complaint (PDF), during 2011-2012, Trendon Shavers, operating under the username pirateat40, collected investments of over 700,000 Bitcoins from at least 66 'investors' (a valuation of $4.5M) with the promise of as much as 7% weekly returns. These 'investors' received about 500,000 Bitcoins in returns, so on average, they're probably much better-off than investors in Madoff's scheme. Nevertheless, with the rising value of Bitcoins, the $4.5M investments would be worth $65M at recent pricing if they had actually been left in Bitcoins, which approximates the 1% per day returns that the scheme promised."

Comments

Re:Covered before on slashdot, a year ago.

[oodaloop]

So do I:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4009033&cid=44369347

Re:Filed a lawsuit, not arrested?

[rwyoder]

FLEE TO MEXICO

Build private compound

Employ armed guards

Enjoy

If you chose Belize, you could pick up a pre-built compound, and some currently unemployed, (but experienced), guards.