The BitConnect scam cost people their life savings, and the case for restitution for those affected has started crawling its way through the complicated legal system. As part of the case, the FBI has announced that it is seeking those who lost money in the fraud to help with the “federal assessment” of the case against the BitConnect owners.
Seeking Potential Victims in Bitconnect Investigation: The FBI is seeking potential victims who invested in the cryptocurrency Bitconnect coin (BCC). https://t.co/WJjDpiAjjs
— FBI Cleveland (@FBICleveland) February 21, 2019
Criminal Case Looming?
In a post on their website the FBI asks those who were left out of pocket when the project collapsed to complete a questionnaire, with the potential for further discussions. In describing BitConnect they don’t mince their words, condemning its “Ponzi-type nature” and that it collapsed “stranding investors with near-worthless cryptocurrency.” The FBI’s involvement puts a new slant on what were, until now, just civil cases launched against BitConnect India’s head Divyesh Darji and the gang of promoters he paid to shill the project on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. It seems however that federal involvement could indicate criminal proceedings, which should make these men, who at the height of the token’s popularity boasted of earning $10,000 a day, very nervous.
Civil Case Still Pending
In October 2018 it was announced that all the civil lawsuits lodged against BitConnect had been amalgamated into one Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint and filed at a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The consolidated lawsuit cites over 22 violations and names BitConnect, individuals affiliated with the scheme including Darji, and even YouTube as defendants, the latter for allowing BitConnect promoters and affiliates to publish “over 70,000 hours of unedited content, generating 58,000,000 views,” and luring “thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of victims” into BitConnect’s web. If criminal charges are in the process of being brought against some or all of those entities, this would ensure that we will still be hearing the name ‘BitConnect’ into 2020 or beyond.
