In late June, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against six defendants in four separate cases for their involvement in schemes to entice investors into various cryptocurrency and NFT fraud schemes. One defendant allegedly orchestrated an NFT "rug pull" scheme, abruptly ending a purported NFT investment project, deleting its website and absconding with investors' money. The defendant and his coconspirators allegedly then laundered $2.6 million of investors' funds through "chain-hopping," a form of money laundering in which one type of coin is converted to another and funds are moved across multiple cryptocurrency blockchains. The defendant also used decentralized cryptocurrency swap services to obscure the trail of stolen funds.

Another three defendants were charged for their role in a global cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that generated $100 million from defrauded investors. A fifth defendant was charged for his role in an initial coin offering that raised $21 million by using falsified white papers about the project and blockchain technology, planting fake testimonials on its website, and fabricating purported business relationships with the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and prominent companies to create the appearance of legitimacy. A sixth defendant allegedly solicited $12 million from investors to participate in an unregistered commodity pool, purporting to use a trading bot that could transact high-volume trades to generate 500-600 percent returns on cryptocurrency exchanges. The DOJ has encouraged all victims of the schemes to visit its resource page to identify themselves as potential victims.

Also, in late June, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed its largest-ever fraud scheme case involving bitcoin in a civil enforcement action against a foreign currency commodity pool and its operator. The complaint alleges that between 2018 and 2021, the operator engaged in an international, fraudulent, multilevel marketing scheme using websites and social media to solicit bitcoin from investors. The defendant allegedly misappropriated over $1.7 billion in funds from pool participants. The CFTC is seeking full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.

Finally, Rija Ignatova, the so-called CryptoQueen, was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for her alleged leadership of a massive global cryptocurrency fraud scheme. According to reports, Ignatova founded OneCoin, a Bulgarian-based virtual currency, targeting victims around the world and urging investors to sell multilevel packages to friends and family. A federal warrant was issued for Ignatova's arrest in 2017, but she has not been seen since.

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