Singapore Court Imposes 6-Year Prison Sentence on Crypto Ponzi Scheme Mastermind

Yang Bin, a 61-year-old Dutch nationwide, was sentenced by a Singapore court docket to 6 years in jail and a high-quality of S$16,000 Singapore {dollars} for orchestrating a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. Yang’s firm, A&A Blockchain Innovation, falsely claimed to personal 300,000 cryptocurrency mining machines and promised buyers a every day return of 0.5%. In actuality, the corporate had no such equipment and operated by utilizing cash from new buyers to pay returns to earlier buyers. The scheme, which ran from Could 2021 to February 2022, attracted over 700 buyers who invested roughly S$6.7 million (roughly US$4.92 million), leading to losses of roughly S$1.1 million. Yang was charged with conspiracy to cheat, working with no legitimate work move and hiring staff with no legitimate work move. The court docket highlighted his position because the mastermind behind the scheme and the subtle techniques used to deceive buyers, together with pretend advertising supplies and a fraudulent app displaying pretend returns.