Ohio Man Pleads Guilty for Fraud — Embezzled Over $30M from Crypto Scam

According to the U.S Department of Justice, a man named Michael Ackerman pleaded guilty to a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency scam. The U.S attorney for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss, announced his guilty plea last September 8.

As he admitted today, Michael Ackerman raised millions of dollars in investments for his fake cryptocurrency scheme by falsely touting monthly returns of over 15 percent.

Based on the reports, he started this scam in 2017. It was called “Q3 Trading Club”. Here, he lured hundreds of investors into this “crypto fund.” Ackerman promised them 15% monthly returns — it was too good to be true. Ackerman mentioned in his guilty plea that he embezzled more than $30 million from his victims. With this, Ackerman could face 20 years in jail following his guilty plea.

Further, Strauss also stated that Ackerman even falsified relevant documents to make his scheme more convincing. Strauss added that Ackerman made the investors believe that he had a “balance of more than $315 million”. However, in reality, the DOJ confirmed that he never had this fund at all.

Additionally, the DOJ said that Ackerman also stole over $9 million from investor contributions to “bankroll a lavish lifestyle.” This includes real estate, jewelry, personal security services, etc.

The 52-year old Ackerman pleaded guilty to the charges of “wire fraud”. Reports say he also agreed to “recompense at least $30 million” from the money he embezzled. In addition, he’ll also “forfeit $36 million in cash, real estate, and jewelry” that he wrongly acquired.

To conclude, reports say his sentence is due on January 5, 2022.