From June 2017 to July 2018, the St. Petersburg, Florida, native Gherman, 27, used “materially misleading statements and omissions” to entice investors to buy into his cryptocurrency trading LLC named J Squared Invest, an order from the independent government agency Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) found. According to CFTC, over 40 investors lost more than $300,000 they invested in his care. CFTC referred to Gherman’s cryptocurrency project as a “solicitation scheme” in a press release.
“[Gherman and J Squared] recklessly made false and misleading statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts which induced individuals to invest with J Squared, invest additional funds with J Squared, or continue to hold their investments with J Squared,” CFTC noted.
Gherman apparently went on to help launch Fuentes’ non-profit, America First Foundation, in 2020. Fuentes and his group registered the domain for the foundation using an IP address originating from Gherman’s hometown of St. Petersburg. An alias Hatewatch linked to Gherman actively promoted the foundation on social media and posted that he “set [the foundation] up” with Fuentes. A website also directed America First Political Action Committee (AFPAC) attendees to send payment for their tickets by…
