The defendants allegedly made false claims about their tokens and executed so-called “wash trades” to create the impression of an active trading market, prosecutors claim. The three market makers — ZMQuant, CLS Global, and MyTrade — allegedly wash traded or conspired to wash trade on behalf of NexFundAI, an Ethereum-based token they didn’t realize was created by the FBI.
“What the FBI uncovered in this case is essentially a new twist to old-school financial crime,” Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said in a statement. “What we uncovered has resulted in charges against the leadership of four cryptocurrency companies, and four crypto ‘market makers’ and their employees who are accused of spearheading a sophisticated trading scheme that allegedly bilked honest investors out of millions of dollars.”
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