Crypto Fund Scum, U.S. Investors, and an Australian Man

Authorities in different parts of the world are working hard to investigate crypto-related crimes. Unfortunately, there is no lack of such crimes. Importantly, Stefan He Qin pleaded guilty to cheating investors out of more than $90 million by misusing money they invested in his crypto funds.

It is worth noting that, he entered the plea to a single count of a securities fraud charge in a Manhattan federal court on February 4. Based on the information provided by the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the fraud occurred from 2017 to 2020, as the person who is Australian operated the fund titled Virgil Sigma.

Let’s have a look at the case. Stefan He Qin drained almost all of the assets from the $90 million crypto fund. This is not the end of the story as he spent the money on speculative personal investments etc. Moreover, he lied to investors about the performance of the fund and he provided other false information as well.

Furthermore, this person then tried to steal money from another fund he controlled called the VQR Multisrategy Fund. He wanted to use the money from that fund to meet the redemption demands of the defrauded investors in Virgil Sigma.

Crypto funds and legal side of the case

As stated above, Qin operated this criminal scheme for years. He was able to steal money from investors. Qin made false promises that coaxed investors into pouring millions of dollars into fraudulent crypto funds.

Interestingly, Virgil Sigma purported to employ a strategy to earn profits from arbitrage opportunities in the crypto markets. Importantly, it used a trading algorithm to take advantage of price differences for a number of crypto assets including Bitcoin, across as many as 40 exchanges around the world. Three of them are located in the U.S.

The case of Virgil Sigma once underlines the complexity of crypto-related crimes. In many cases, it takes time and effort to investigate such activities. Hopefully, authorities in the U.S., as well as other countries, are working hard to tackle such crimes.

Nevertheless, it is desirable to pay more about various organizations before investing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Customers should cooperate more closely with authorities to bring organizers of various criminal activities to justice. Moreover, it is important to work with law enforcement agencies from around the world to reduce the number of illegal activities.