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Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme Operator Pleads Guilty To $150M Fraud
JustAnotherOldGuy writes: Bitcoin Savings & Trust founder Trendon Shavers pleaded guilty to fraud over his company's Ponzi scheme, whose victims believed they would earn one percent interest every three days — an annual rate of 3,641 percent. Shavers used new depositors' money to pay the existing depositors, and skimmed enough cream to pay for a car, a $1000 Vegas steak dinner, and plenty of casino gambling. He cost his depositors about $150M and was holding onto $40.7M in Bitcoin when he was arrested. At his peak, he controlled about 7 percent of all Bitcoins in circulation. He netted $164,758 from the scheme. Under a plea deal, Shavers has agreed not to appeal any sentence at or below 41 months in prison. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan is scheduled for Feb. 3. Shavers, who went by "pirateat40" online, was arrested in November, two months after a federal judge in Texas ordered him to pay $40.7 million in a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit.
At his peak, he controlled about 7 percent of all Bitcoins in circulation.
Although the article doesn't explicitly say so, his bitcoin wallet was presumably seized as part of his arrest and conviction. Given this and other similar high profile cases, it seems that the U.S. government may now control a not-insignificant minority of all bitcoins currently in circulation. It's difficult to see how that can be good for a system like bitcoin whose express purpose is to provide an alternative to traditional currencies.