- AML Bitcoin founder Rowland Andrade and marketer-in-chief Jack Abramoff are facing SEC charges over the project
- SEC claims that Andrade spent ICO money himself while Abramoff lied about the project’s potential partnerships
- SEC says that the project was a complete fraud with nothing ever produced
The founder of AML Bitcoin cryptocurrency project and its chief marketer have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for defrauding customers through an illegal $5.6 million cryptocurrency ICO. Founder Rowland Andrade was joined on the SEC charge sheet by government lobbyist and former jailbird Jack Abramoff, who used his persuasiveness, and a series of flat out lies, to entice investors to the project.
Founder Spent ICO Money on Property
AML Bitcoin claimed to have solved Bitcoin’s issues with anonymity and money laundering, but the SEC claims that the project was never anything more than a money grabbing venture whose product never existed. Andrade attempted to raise up to $100 million during the ICO period, which took place during the ICO craze of 2017, but only managed to rake in $5.6 million from 2,400 investors. Andrade then misappropriated these funds by spending close to one million dollars on a new home and other real estate, with “one parcel” of real estate since seized by US officials.
AML Bitcoin Faked Product and Partnerships
Abramoff, a longtime government lobbyist who served 43 months of a four-year sentence in 2008 for bribing government officials, was accused by the SEC of helping to market AML Bitcoin to potential investors with a series of false claims to entice investment. These included potential deals with government agencies as well as Super Bowl and the National Football League rejecting the company’s half-time advert as “too controversial”.
Fake partnerships and non-existent products are now recognized as staples of a typical cryptocurrency ICO scam, with dozens of examples being uncovered by the SEC in the years since the craze. Bloomberg reports that Abramoff will plead guilty and pay more than $50,000 in disgorgement and interest for his part in the AML Bitcoin scam while Andrade will plead not guilty and will fight the case, an attitude the AML Bitcoin team has echoed:
Hello everyone. Funny thing is how the government turned on there associate Jack Abramoff. Enjoy the attachments. We will make a public comment soon. The AML Bitcoin Team will not allow anyone to EXTORT us even the U.S. Government! https://t.co/4XCfQSuQWp
— AML Blockchain (@AMLBitcoin) June 25, 2020
