Judgment Entered In Crypto Fraud Case, Hacked Bitcoin Seen On The Move

Late last week, a Nevada federal court entered a default judgment against David Saffron, an Australian citizen residing in the U.S., and Circle Society, his Nevada corporation, for running a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. The case was brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which alleged that Saffron fraudulently solicited and accepted over $15 million of bitcoin and U.S. dollars from at least 179 individuals by falsely promising to invest the funds and generate guaranteed returns of up to 300 percent. Rather than using the funds as promised, the defendants allegedly misappropriated the funds, including by holding them in Saffron's personal wallet and using some to pay out redeeming investors.