The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged an American couple with defrauding nearly $6 million from around 100 people through a scam called “Blessings of God Thru Crypto” between July 2022 and January 2023. Michael Griffis and his wife Amanda Griffis will have to defend themselves in a Tennessee district court.
American couple taken to court for crypto scam
Scam cases are commonplace in the crypto ecosystem. However, the fact that they involve a couple is something of a rarity.
According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Griffis and his wife Amanda Griffis have defrauded more than 100 people of nearly $6 million between July 2022 and January 2023.
The fraud was carried out in a somewhat unconventional manner, informs the CFTC. The couple, who work in real estate in Clarksville, proposed to their colleagues and customers to invest in a crypto pool entitled “Blessings of God Thru Crypto”. In return, investors were reassured that their funds would be safe and could yield high returns. The sauce has clearly taken, as more than 100 people have signed up to the ideaside nearly $6 million to the couple.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned… More than $4 million in mutual funds were transferred to different wallets. In other news, the couple used approximately $1 million in common funds to pay their debts and purchase various goods. Another portion of funds was used to issue payments to feed the Ponzi scheme, informs the CFTC.
What’s in store for the Griffis couple?
In a statement, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) claims to have filed a complaint against the couple. In addition to fraud, the couple are accused of failing to register with the CFTC. CFTC.
The court will therefore have to force the couple to return the victims’ funds with damages, and ban them from crypto-related activities. A prison sentence is not currently envisaged.
War against crypto scams in California, Onecoin saga, etc: the American news regularly echoes cases of crypto scams. Interestingly, however, Bitcoin is becoming less and less associated with fraud and scams. Accused of being a money-laundering tool, Bitcoin has proved to be more traceable than any asset. Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades learned this the hard way and had to stop fundraising via Bitcoin. Criminals are mainly turning to DeFi protocols, false promises of gain, but also stablecoins….
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