Last Thursday, The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a cryptocurrency payment services firm with a scheme to defraud investors in monetary transactions.

According to DoJ press release, the founder and principal manager of My Big Coin Pay Inc. – Randall Crater – was charged with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful monetary transactions.

Crater and his associates founded My Big Coin Pay Inc. as a virtual payment services firm, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a 3-year period from 2014 to 2017, the company had established a fraudulent virtual currency, allegedly marketed and sold it to their investors.

By taking advantages of the value of cryptocurrency and using misrepresentations, Crafter was successfully luring investors to believe that “My Big Coins” were a fully functioning virtual currency backed by valuable assets such as gold. They also falsely claimed that  “My Big Coins” can be exchanged for goods, cash or other virtual currencies.

Besides the four counts of wire fraud and three illegal money transactions, Crater had allegedly misappropriated more than $6 million in investor funds for personal use.

The DoJ has also stated that these indictment are merely allegations, Randall Crater is remained innocent until proven guilty.