Jonathan Sifuentes Saucedo of Mexico has been ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission to pay $70,000 in restitution and a $15,000 administrative penalty for defrauding investors with a cryptocurrency investment program.
The Corporation Commission found Saucedo mostly promoted the investment program in My Trader Coin (also known as MTCoin), at presentations to groups in hotels, a church, a business office, and at a radio station with broadcasts primarily in Spanish directed at the Latino, Christian community. However, Saucedo was not registered to offer or sell securities in Arizona.
The Commission found Saucedo presented to nearly 100 people in one instance, telling them for every $1,000 investment they brought into MTCoin, they would receive 20 percent ($200) back, and urging investors not put their money in a bank where it would just sit.
The Commission found Saucedo made material misrepresentations and omissions when offering and selling the cryptocurrency investment program, including promising returns of over 300 percent in a year’s time and failing to disclose the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, the risk of investing in a multilevel marketing business with little operation history, and the fact that earlier investors had not been able to withdraw principal and interest as promised.
According to the Commission, in settling this matter, Saucedo neither admits nor denies the Commission’s findings but agrees to the entry of the consent order.