First U.S ICO Fraud Case, Suspect Maksim Pleads Guilty

The suspect behind the first ever U.S ICO fraud case has told a New York court that he is guilty of the offense he is being charged for.

According to a Bloomberg report, 39-year-old Maksim Zaslavskiy told the court that he had lied to over 1000 investors about his Initial Coin offering (ICO). Maksim had lied in his ICO whitepaper that his project, REcoin and Diamond Reserve Coin were backed by real estates and diamonds respectively.

Along with his accomplices, Maksim made away with investor funds after the tokens used for both ICO projects imploded last year. No backing in either real estate or diamond was secured for the fraudulent project.

As stated in the report, Maksim told the court,

“I, along with others, made these false statements to obtain money from investors. We had not yet purchased any real estate […] we had not purchased any diamonds.”

The court injunction failed to state exactly how much was extorted from investors using the ICO scam.

Learn – What Is An ICO?

Maksim Sentence To Be Announced By New York Court

The declaration by the ICO founder brings to a near closure, the case which has been opened with the U.S SEC since September 2017. The regulators said at that time,

“Investors should be wary of companies touting ICOs as a way to generate outsized returns. As alleged in our complaint, Zaslavskiy lured investors with false promises of sizeable returns from novel technology.”

Right now, Maksim Zaslavskiy could face around 37 months behind bars after admitting to the crime. However, the sentence will not be announced by the court until the case is resumed sometime in April 2019.