Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Dwayne Golden of Florida, Jatin Patel of India, Marquis Egerton of North Carolina, and Gregory Aggesen of New York with fraud for operating Ponzi schemes involving bitcoin, for fraudulently soliciting more than $44 million of investments, and misappropriating millions of dollars.
In its continuing litigation, the CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged.
“This case illustrates how fraudsters never tire of devising schemes to separate people from their hard-earned money, and digital asset frauds are no exception,” said Acting Director of Enforcement Vincent McGonagle.
Case Background
The complaint alleges that Golden, Patel, and Egerton operated the websites Empowercoin and Ecoinplus, through which they fraudulently solicited individuals of more than $23 million of bitcoin. The complaint also alleges that Golden, Patel, Aggesen, and an accomplice, operated the website JetCoin, through which they fraudulently solicited individuals of more than $21 million of bitcoin. According to the complaint, the websites all promised customers that professionals would trade their bitcoin and they…
