Florida man admits to US$8.4 mln crypto fraud scheme

Juan Tacuri, 46, of Florida admitted to organizing an $8.4 million Ponzi scheme involving cryptocurrency.

Tacuri, a key backer of the now-defunct Forcount operation, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the United States Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

The maximum penalty for this crime is 20 years in prison.

As part of his request, Tacuri will surrender approximately US$4 million in profits and property acquired through the scheme, which targets Spanish-speaking investors.

Tacuri’s guilty plea is a development in legal proceedings against Forcount, which was later rebranded as Weltsys.

The operation defrauded investors of approximately $8.4 million from 2017 to 2021, falsely promising high returns on crypto investments.

Tacuri gathered victims at various fairs and events across the United States, including in the Southern District of New York, where Judge Analisa Torres will determine his sentence.

Investors were promised that their money would double within six months through Forcount’s purported crypto trading and mining ventures.

The Justice Department said that in reality these operations did not exist and that funds from new investors were used to pay previous participants and finance the lifestyles of Tacuri and his associates.

The online platform provided to investors tracked their “profits,” but many victims lost their entire investment because they were unable to withdraw their so-called winnings.

Legal proceedings are ongoing against Tacuri’s co-supporters Francisley Da Silva and Antonia Perez Hernandez; Neither a defense was entered nor was he found guilty.

Tacuri’s sentencing is scheduled for late September 2024.