A U.S. district court in Florida has issued a temporary restraining order against four individuals accused of promoting fraudulent schemes involving cryptocurrencies.
The court’s order comes after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint alleging that Thomas Dluca, Louis Gatto, and Eric Pinkston promoted chain referral schemes known as Bitcoin Funding Team and My7Network. The FTC alleges that while the structure of the schemes ensured that few would benefit, a majority would fail to recover their initial investments.
In its complaint, the FTC names a fourth defendant – Scott Chandler – who is accused of promoting Bitcoin Funding Team and another deceptive cryptocurrency scheme, Jetcoin.
“This case shows that scammers always find new ways to market old schemes, which is why the FTC will remain vigilant regardless of the platform – or currency used,” said Tom Pahl, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The schemes the defendants promoted were designed to enrich those at the top at the expense of everyone else.”
The FTC has charged that the defendants violated the FTC Act’s prohibition against deceptive acts by misrepresenting the chain referral schemes as bona fide money-making opportunities and by falsely claiming that participants could earn substantial income by participating in the three schemes.
