In their oral and written ICO materials distributed through the internet, Farkas and his co-conspirators claimed that Centra Tech had an experienced executive team with impressive credentials.
They also claimed that Centra Tech had partnerships with Bancorp, Mastercard, and Visa to issue the Centra Card. Farkas and his co-conspirators further claimed that that the cryptocurrency company had money transmitter licenses in 38 states.
Centra Tech co-founders used deceit and lies to raise funds from investors
In reality, Centra Tech’s executive team was composed of fictional people. They invented the names including their purported CEO Michael James to dupe investors. The cryptocurrency company didn’t have partnerships with Bancorp, Mastercard, and Visa and didn’t have licenses in a number of states.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Craig Stewart said, “Farkas and his co-conspirators duped ICO investors into investing digital currency worth millions of dollars based on fictitious claims about their company, including misrepresentations relating to its purported digital technologies and its relationships with legitimate businesses in the financial services sector. Whether in the context of traditional equity IPOs or newer cryptocurrency-related ICOs, raising capital through lies and deceit is a crime.”
