CFTC Demands UK Crypto Thief To Pay $571 Million Fine: Report

The CFTC demands UK crypto thief Benjamin Reynolds to pay a $571 million fine after he solicited more than 20,000 BTC from his victims in 2017 as we can see more in our latest Bitcoin scam news.

Benjamin Reynolds scammed more than 170 US citizens and promised to trade their cryptocurrencies in return for a high profit, but of course, he disappeared. The CFTC demands Reynolds to pay a fine as it released a statement demanding a penalty payment of $571 million for a scam that he ran through the summer and autumn of 2017. Much of the penalty is the $429 million fine with an additional $142 million to be paid as restitution to the victims.

20,000 BTC is a lot of money, reaching up to a billion in today’s estimates as BTC hovers around $55K. Back at the start of summer 2017 when Reynolds initiated his scam, the price of BTC was around $1500. Reynolds targeted more than 170 US citizens through a made-up company called Control Finance and used a website with multiple social media profiles and email communications that baited users by promising them he will trade their funds on online markets and will return a profit to them.
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He constructed a lie and told victims that he will use specialized virtual currency traders that guarantee trading profits as per the CFTC statement. He disappeared with the money and hasn’t been found since, despite being sued since 2019. With cryptocurrencies developing faster and faster, new forms of theft appeared as well. In February this year, the DeFi platform C.R.E.A.M was robbed out of $37 million when the hackers used a complex exploit involving flash loans.

Then later in March, a compromised wallet on social money platform Roll was robbed of its contents and duped for 3000 ETH, sending the price of the tokens in a freefall. With the new cybercrime forms developing, digital heroism is growing too. Last year a security expert “samczsun” spotted a smart contract that left 25,000 ETH out in the open, so he secured the pot and alerted the rightful owner Lien Finance. The question remains, however, whether Reynolds will pay his fine with the CFTC and still have half a billion of BTC left?