Mining Capital Coin CEO Luiz Capuci Jr. is accused of orchestrating a $62 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme
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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Luiz Capuci, the CEO and co-founder of crypto mining and investment platform Mining Capital Coin (MCC), with "purportedly orchestrating a $62 million global investment fraud conspiracy."
In connection with various allegedly fraudulent operations run via MCC, the DOJ has charged Capuci with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to engage in international money laundering. He risks a maximum prison sentence of 45 years if convicted.
Capuci allegedly promised "significant income and guaranteed returns by using investors' money to mine new cryptocurrencies" as part of the mining packages but allegedly failed to deliver on the promise. Capuci is also accused of marketing dodgy MCC trading bots that could execute "thousands of trades per second" and create daily returns for investors.
"As he did with the Mining Packages, however, Capuci allegedly operated an investment fraud scheme with the Trading Bots and was not, as he promised, using MCC Trading Bots to generate income for investors, but instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators," the DOJ indictment reads.
On the same day as the DOJ's indictment, the SEC issued fraud allegations against MCC, co-founder Emerson Pires, Capuci, and two companies controlled by Capuci, CPTLCoin Corp. and Bitchain Exchanges.