Travis Ford, the co-founder and chief trader of Wolf Capital, has entered a plea of guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy. He was responsible for the orchestration of a scheme that defrauded investors of $9.4 million.
On January 10, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the confession, emphasizing Ford’s involvement in deceiving approximately 2,800 investors with excessively high returns.
Ford advertised himself as a “sophisticated investor” who could generate daily returns of 1-2%, which amounted to an extraordinary 547% annually. Between January and August 2023, Ford employed Wolf Capital’s website, social media, and other online platforms to attract investors.
Nevertheless, Ford diverted the funds for his own benefit and that of his co-conspirators, rather than utilizing them as initially committed. Ford “misappropriated and diverted investor funds to profit himself and his co-conspirators, to the financial detriment of investors,” according to the Department of Justice.
Ford subsequently acknowledged that the returns it had promised were unattainable and inconsistent. Ford’s guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud entails a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison. There is currently no scheduled sentencing date.
This case is a component of a more extensive initiative to combat fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. Vietnamese authorities apprehended four individuals on January 5 following allegations that they were involved in a crypto mining scheme that defrauded nearly $157,300 from more than 200 victims.
In the same vein, Springfield, Massachusetts, police issued cautionary statements regarding an increase in cryptocurrency-related schemes, particularly those that involve cryptocurrency ATMs.
In 2024, the crypto industry experienced losses aggregating $1.49 billion as a result of breaches and fraud, a 17% decrease from 2023, as previously reported.
Hacks were the primary cause of $1.47 billion or 98.1% of the total losses across 192 incidents, according to a report by blockchain security platform Immunefi.
Despite a 72% increase year-over-year, fraud, which encompassed rug draws and schemes, accounted for only 1.9% of the losses at $28 million.
The decrease in the total number of crypto losses is indicative of the enhancement of security measures, as the number of effective attacks decreased by 27.5% from 320 in 2023 to 232 in 2024.
In May, a private key intrusion occurred at Japan’s DMM Bitcoin exchange, resulting in a loss of $305 million. In July, hackers compromised the Ethereum-based multisig wallet of WazirX, India’s leading crypto exchange, resulting in a loss of $235 million.
These two incidents collectively constituted 36% of the total losses. Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols continued to be the primary targets, accounting for 51.4% of the losses, while centralized finance (CeFi) platforms accounted for 48.6%.
It is important to note that CeFi’s losses increased by 77.5% year over year, totaling $726 million. Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain were the most frequently targeted blockchains, with Ethereum experiencing 104 incidents that resulted in 44% of the total chain losses.
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