AirBit Club execs face decades in prison after pleading guilty to $100M fraud

6 individuals associated with a cryptocurrency “Ponzi plan” that generated about $100 million over 5 years have actually pled guilty to a series of scams and cash laundering charges, each bring an optimal sentence of 20 to thirty years of jail.

Among the creators of “AirBit Club,” Pablo Renato Rodriguez, was the most recent to plead guilty to wire scams conspiracy charges on Mar. 8.

According to a Mar. 8 declaration from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), AirBit Club was a phony cryptocurrency mining and trading business running in between 2015 to 2020, where executives and promoters caused victim financiers into thinking that they ‘d make ensured passive earnings and revenues on any subscription bought.

Operators and lawyer of international multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi plan “AirBit Club” plead guiltyhttps:// t.co/ MT3mM9aqPV

— United States Lawyer SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 8, 2023

According to the DOJ, the criminals took a trip throughout the United States, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe to market AirBit at “luxurious expositions” to encourage financiers to buy AirBit Club subscriptions.

Victims saw “revenues” build up on the AirBit Club online website, however no real mining or trading was ever performed. One victim attempting to withdraw was asked to “bring new members” into the AirBit Club plan in order to withdraw her funds.

U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated the operators utilized funds from victims to buy elegant vehicles, homes and jewerly. A few of the earnings were utilized to fund more expositions to hire more victims too:

“The offenders made the most of the growing buzz around cryptocurrency to trick unwary victims around the globe out of countless dollars with incorrect guarantees that their cash was being purchased cryptocurrency trading and mining.”

“Rather of doing any cryptocurrency trading or mining on behalf of financiers, the offenders developed a Ponzi plan and took the victims’ cash to line their own pockets,” he included.

The agents were very first formally charged Aug. 18, 2020.

Ever since, senior promoters Cecilia Millan, Jackie Aguilar and Karina Chairez each pled guilty to a series of wire scams conspiracy, bank scams conspiracy and cash laundering conspiracy charges on Jan. 31, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22, while another creator, Gutenberg Dos Santos pled guilty to wire scams and cash laundering conspiracy charges on Oct. 21, 2021, according to the Mar. 8 declaration.

These guilty pleas send out a clear message that we are following all of those who look for to make use of cryptocurrency to dedicate scams,” Williams included.

Related: ‘Far too simple’– Crypto scientist’s phony Ponzi raises $100K in hours

The operators have actually been bought to surrender their deceitful earnings of AirBit Club, that include fiat currency, property and Bitcoin (BTC), jointly valued at about $100 million.

Cointelegraph discovered there are still videos of the AirBit Club agents marketing the subscription plan on YouTube.

The plan frequently utilized the hashtag “#AirBitBillionaireClub” and shared numerous phony success stories of financiers to attempt to tempt in more victims.

California-licensed Lawyer Scott Hughes, a lawyer implicated of laundering earnings of the plan, likewise pled guilty to cash laundering charges on Mar. 2.

Rodriguez, Millan, Aguilar, Chairez and Hughes will be sentenced on various dates in between June and August this year.

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