Because they are said to have cheated several hundred victims out of a total of around 5.7 million euros with a cryptocurrency scam, three men will be in court in Linz from April 24th. The Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) accuses them of serious fraud, criminal association and money laundering
Specifically, the accused, aged 29, 38 and 40, are said to have pretended that they had introduced a new cryptocurrency and raised money for it between December 2017 and February 2018. According to the indictment, the alleged new cryptocurrency did not even exist. They are said to have deceived their victims that their investments in Bitcoin and Ether would flow into a business model for the further development of trading software that enables more than 10,000 trades per second on the blockchain and promised a profit of ten percent per week .Up to ten years imprisonmentThe trial will continue on April 29th. It is not yet possible to predict when the jury will deliver a verdict. The penalty range is between one and ten years in prison. The WKStA is also investigating three other people suspected of being involved – in one case for serious fraud and in two for money laundering.
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