{
  "name": "US enforcement actions against crypto trading-signal fraud",
  "description": "Structured record of United States enforcement actions (SEC, DOJ, CFTC, FTC) against crypto trading-signal, managed-trading and signal-adjacent investment fraud schemes. Each row links to the primary government source.",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "url": "https://realcryptosignals.com/research/enforcement-actions/",
  "version": "2026-07-28",
  "case_count": 11,
  "cases": [
    {
      "case_id": "nexfundai",
      "title": "Operation Token Mirrors: the FBI builds its own token to catch signal-market manipulators",
      "agencies": "DOJ / FBI",
      "period": "2024–2025",
      "red_flags": "Pump and dump; Exit liquidity; Fake social proof",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread | https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market",
      "summary": "In October 2024, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts announced charges against 18 individuals and entities — including crypto \"market makers\" Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global and MyTrade — for wash trading and market manipulation offered as a service to token projects. The FBI took the unprecedented step of creating its own token, NexFundAI, and let the manipulation-for-hire firms pitch and execute their services on it while agents documented everything."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "control-finance",
      "title": "Control-Finance: \"expert traders, guaranteed daily profits\" — $571 million judgment",
      "agencies": "CFTC",
      "period": "2019–2021",
      "red_flags": "Guaranteed-profit claim; Wallet deposit scam; Fake track record",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/7938-19 | https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8371-21",
      "summary": "The CFTC charged Control-Finance Ltd. and Benjamin Reynolds with fraudulently obtaining at least 22,858 bitcoin (about $147 million at the time) from more than 1,000 customers by claiming the company's specialized traders generated guaranteed trading profits. Customer dashboards showed sham balances backed by nothing; an affiliate program paid referral bonuses for bringing in new depositors."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "bitconnect",
      "title": "BitConnect: the \"volatility software trading bot\" behind a $2 billion collapse",
      "agencies": "SEC / DOJ",
      "period": "2021–2022",
      "red_flags": "Guaranteed-profit claim; Fake track record; Hype and urgency",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021-172",
      "summary": "The SEC charged BitConnect and its founder with running a fraudulent, unregistered offering that raised over $2 billion by promising returns as high as 40% per month from a proprietary \"volatility software trading bot\". According to the SEC, instead of trading, funds were siphoned to wallets controlled by the founder and promoters."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "empiresx",
      "title": "EmpiresX: a \"head trader\" and a fake bot promising 1% daily — $100 million gone",
      "agencies": "SEC / DOJ",
      "period": "2022",
      "red_flags": "Fixed daily returns; Fake track record; Custody of funds",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022-119 | https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/empiresx-head-trader-pleads-guilty-global-cryptocurrency-investment-fraud-scheme-amassed",
      "summary": "The SEC and DOJ charged EmpiresX and its principals over a scheme that raised about $100 million by claiming a bot combining \"artificial and human intelligence\" plus a licensed \"head trader\" delivered roughly 1% daily profits. Per the DOJ, the bot was fake, real trading lost money, and earlier investors were paid with later investors' deposits."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "trade-coin-club",
      "title": "Trade Coin Club: a bot Ponzi that took in 82,000 BTC ($295 million)",
      "agencies": "SEC",
      "period": "2022",
      "red_flags": "Promised daily returns; Referral / tier pressure; Fake social proof",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022-201",
      "summary": "The SEC charged the creator of Trade Coin Club and three U.S. promoters over a Ponzi scheme that raised more than 82,000 bitcoin — about $295 million — from over 100,000 investors worldwide. The pitch: a trading bot making \"millions of microtransactions\" per second, with promised minimum daily returns."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "whatsapp-clubs",
      "title": "WhatsApp \"investment clubs\": deepfaked experts, fake professors, $14 million",
      "agencies": "SEC",
      "period": "2025",
      "red_flags": "Impersonation / deepfakes; Scripted group chats; Advance-fee withdrawal",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-144-sec-charges-three-purported-crypto-asset-trading-platforms-four-investment-clubs-scheme-targeted | https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26453",
      "summary": "The SEC charged three purported crypto trading platforms and four \"investment clubs\" that recruited U.S. retail investors through social-media ads, then herded them into WhatsApp group chats. The ads used deepfake videos of prominent financial figures; inside the chats, fake \"professors\" posted market commentary and AI-generated investment tips."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "hyperfund",
      "title": "HyperFund: \"0.5–1% daily rewards\" — a $1.7 billion membership pyramid",
      "agencies": "SEC / DOJ",
      "period": "2024",
      "red_flags": "Fixed daily returns; Membership tiers; Nonexistent operations",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-11 | https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/three-individuals-charged-roles-189b-cryptocurrency-fraud-scheme",
      "summary": "The SEC charged the co-founder of HyperFund (also marketed as HyperTech, HyperVerse and HyperNation) and a top promoter over a pyramid scheme that raised more than $1.7 billion worldwide; parallel DOJ charges put the figure at $1.89 billion. Members were sold \"memberships\" promising 0.5% to 1% in daily passive rewards until the investment doubled or tripled — supposedly funded by large-scale crypto mining that, per the SEC, did not exist."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "icomtech",
      "title": "IcomTech: expo-stage hype, \"guaranteed daily returns\", prison sentences up to 10 years",
      "agencies": "DOJ",
      "period": "2023–2025",
      "red_flags": "Guaranteed daily returns; Manufactured hype; MLM recruiting",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founder-cryptocurrency-ponzi-scheme-icomtech-sentenced-121-months-prison | https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-defendants-sentenced-10-years-and-eight-years-prison-cryptocurrency-ponzi-scheme",
      "summary": "IcomTech sold itself as a crypto trading and mining company whose products earned guaranteed daily returns. Per the DOJ, it traded and mined nothing: it was a multi-level marketing Ponzi that defrauded tens of thousands of working-class victims out of tens of millions of dollars, recruited through lavish expos and community presentations promising financial freedom."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "circle-society",
      "title": "Circle Society: a bot doing \"17,000 trades an hour\" and promising up to 600% — $32 million judgment",
      "agencies": "CFTC / DOJ",
      "period": "2019–2021",
      "red_flags": "Guaranteed % returns; Funds in operator's wallet; Unverifiable bot stats",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8053-19 | https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8377-21",
      "summary": "The CFTC charged David Saffron and Circle Society with soliciting at least $15.8 million in bitcoin and dollars from 179 participants by touting Saffron's trading expertise and a bot that supposedly executed over 17,000 transactions per hour, with promised returns pitched as high as 300–600% — a promise no real trading operation can make. Per the CFTC, participant funds sat in Saffron's personal wallet and earlier participants were paid with later participants' money."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "forsage",
      "title": "Forsage: \"the smart contract guarantees it\" — a $340 million on-chain pyramid",
      "agencies": "SEC / DOJ",
      "period": "2022–2023",
      "red_flags": "Passive-income promise; Recruitment slots; Promoter networks",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022-134 | https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/forsage-founders-indicted-340m-defi-crypto-scheme",
      "summary": "The SEC charged eleven people — four founders plus U.S. promoters including a group calling itself the \"Crypto Crusaders\" — over Forsage, a scheme that raised more than $300 million from millions of retail investors through \"slot\" purchases executed by smart contracts on Ethereum, Tron and BNB Chain. In 2023 a federal grand jury indicted the four founders on wire-fraud conspiracy charges, putting the total at about $340 million."
    },
    {
      "case_id": "mirror-trading",
      "title": "Mirror Trading International: a \"proprietary bot\" and the largest bitcoin fraud in CFTC history — $1.7 billion",
      "agencies": "CFTC",
      "period": "2022–2023",
      "red_flags": "Unverifiable \"bot\"; Bitcoin custody; MLM recruiting",
      "primary_sources": "https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8549-22 | https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8772-23",
      "summary": "The CFTC charged Mirror Trading International and its CEO Cornelius Johannes Steynberg over a global multi-level-marketing scheme that accepted only bitcoin and claimed to trade off-exchange forex through a proprietary \"bot\". Steynberg took at least 29,421 BTC — worth over $1.7 billion — from more than 23,000 people in the US alone and thousands more worldwide, then misappropriated all of it. The CFTC called it the largest fraudulent scheme involving bitcoin charged in any of its cases."
    }
  ]
}