PlusToken Scammers Got Charged With 11-Year Jail Sentence

PlusToken scammers got charged with an 11-year jail sentence by the Chinese authorities after they managed to defraud investors out of billions of dollars in crypto so let’s read more in today’s crypto news.

The main PlusToken scammers got hit in the face with an 11-year jail sentence in China by the Chinese authorities since they managed to defraud investors out of billions of dollars in different cryptocurrencies. According to the South China Morning Post, the main actors in the scam were sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by a Chinese court. The suspects were found guilty of duping investors out of $2.25 billion worth of crypto.

Authorities already arrested 27 key members of the Ponzi scheme back in July and even apprehended 82 other individuals that were linked to the Plustoken scam. Later in November, Chinese law enforcement sized about $4 billion worth of crypto from the operators of the project and according to the documents, the confiscated crypto tokens included 94,775 Bitcoin, 833,03 ETH, 79,581 BCH, 1.4 million LTC, 27.6 million EOS, 6 billion DOGE, 213,724 USDT. The shutting down of the PlusToken scam project is in line with the latest agenda by the Chinese authorities to get rid of the fraudulent schemes. Also, the latest developments are a win for the authorities since this platform was the biggest Ponzi scheme in China.

But what exactly happened? Plustoken was founded by Chen Bo back in 2018 with all hallmarks of a classic Ponzi scheme. The funds were allegedly generated by investors that only benefit early investors. Chen and other operators worked through social media and other offline tools to get members who then paid for membership fees up to $500 worth of BTC and other crypto assets. Between 2018 and 2019, the platform had more than 2.5 million members with the rewards based on the number of new recruits that joined on board. In the meantime, the total number of funds generated from the members hit over $2.2 billion worth of crypto.

The court documents also alleged that Bo spent most of the funds on an extravagant lifestyle and purchased expensive properties for himself and his family members. In addition to the PlusToken founder and other members that will spend time in jail, the ringleaders were charged with fines. The scammers were fined between $18,000 and $912,922.