His fellow Centra Tech co-founder Robert Farkas also admitted to conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud in connection with the scheme to lure investors to invest millions of dollars in Centra Tech’s cryptocurrency-related financial products.
Centra Tech co-founders lured investors to buy its digital tokens by making false claims
The Justice Department alleged that Sharma, Farkas, and Trapani used material misrepresentations and omissions to lure investors to buy Centra Tech’s unregistered digital tokens, which are considered securities.
They falsely claimed that Centra Tech had an experienced executive team with impressive credentials; had partnerships with Bancorp, Visa, and Mastercard to issue Centra Cards licensed by Visa or Mastercard; had money transmitter and other licenses in 38 states.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Graff said, “Sohrab Sharma led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products. In reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses that he and his co-conspirators touted to trick victims into handing over tens of millions of dollars. We will continue to aggressively pursue digital securities frauds like this one.”
