As a seasoned analyst with years of experience in financial markets, I find myself increasingly concerned about the blurring lines between religion and finance, particularly when it involves allegations of fraud and misconduct. The case of Francier Obando Pinillo, a pastor accused of operating a crypto Ponzi scheme, is a prime example of this troubling trend.
The Securities and Exchange Board (in this case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) has filed a lawsuit against a pastor, claiming he deceived around 1,500 individuals by peddling a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. This group reportedly includes attendees of a church based in Washington D.C., and the commission alleges that they collectively contributed approximately $6 million to this fraudulent operation.
On December 10th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that they had lodged a complaint against Francier Obando Pinillo, accusing him of fraudulent activities and misuse of funds as part of what they allege to be a multi-level marketing scam.
As a crypto investor, I found myself in a peculiar situation when I learned about a pastor named Pinillo, who was accused of misleading claims regarding a supposed trading platform. Apparently, this platform promised to reward its users through exceptional crypto trading. These allegations were made in a Dec. 9 complaint filed at the Spokane federal court by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
According to the regulatory body, between November 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023, Pinillo claimed his role as CEO for Solanofi, Solano Partners Ltd., and Solano Capital Investments. He stated that these companies created the “Solano ecosystem” and that he managed transactions involving Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT) and other digital currencies on behalf of clients.
According to the CFTC, Pinillo assured clients that they could earn returns as high as 34.9% each month via Solanofi, a platform said to employ a trading bot and additional software for cryptocurrency transactions.
Through the platform called Solanofi 2.0, customers were provided with a service for holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana (SOL), USDT, and Dogecoin (DOGE), which promised returns to users as stated in the lawsuit.
In the scheme accused by the CFTC, users were presented with an online interface that showed account details such as balances, earnings, and even gave a 15% incentive for referring others to sign up by offering a 15% referral fee.
“These representations and account statements were false,” the CFTC said in its complaint.
In this scenario, there was no active algorithmic trading software, no client accounts, and no actual trades or earnings were being made. Instead, the accused was illegally using all digital and cash funds that clients had transferred to them.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission claimed that these customers, who have minimal or no knowledge of digital asset transactions, commodity interest trading, and staking digital assets, were deliberately chosen as targets.
In my analysis, I found that the defendant’s appeals were predominantly in Spanish, which allowed him to misuse his trusted role as a pastor.
The regulatory body intends to recover funds for deceived consumers, seize all earnings from the plan, impose a trading ban, and secure a lasting court order to prevent further such activities.
Details concerning Pinillo’s legal representation were not readily accessible at the moment. No response was received from Pinillo after sending a comment request through social media channels.
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2024-12-11 09:21