Crypto Capital Executive Charged with Fraud, Bitfinex Calls Itself an Aggrieved Party

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York indicted three criminal charges against Crypto Capital director Oz YOSEF. This probably confirms the recent statements by Bitfinex general council Stuart HEGNER, made even before the accusations became public.

According to the documents submitted to the court, Oz Yosef (Joseph), was accused of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to conduct an illegal money transfer business.

The investigation claims that Yosef sent a message to a person whose name is not called «regarding the need to transfer $10,000,000 to a bank located in the Bahamas, knowing that the funds would be transferred from a bank account maintained with a bank located in Manhattan, New York.»

As a result of an international investigation conducted by several organizations at once, including the US authorities, the accounts and assets of Crypto Capital were frozen. It turned out that $ 880 million of the withdrawn funds belonged to the Bitfinex exchange, which had some business relationships with the company. Then, the lost funds aroused the interest of the New York prosecutor's office regarding the ties between Bitfinex and its subsidiary Tether.

Last Thursday, Ivan Manuel Molina LEE, president of Crypto Capital, was extradited to Poland. He is charged with laundering 1.5 billion zlotys, which is about 390 million dollars. And it was after his arrest that Lee Hegner issued a statement on behalf of Bitfinex, which claimed that the exchange was a victim of fraud and was not involved in laundering.

Yosef will lose control of a range of assets after the indictment. The court documents indicated their specific list, which also includes the assets of another Crypto Capital executive, Reginal FOWLER, who was accused of running a shadow banking business by the parent company Global Trade Solutions LLC and the US prosecutor’s office last spring. Spiral Global Development, Eurocontrol, and Eligibility Criterion are also among the assets seized.

Image courtesy of: Houston Chronicle