The founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds was charged in U.S. federal court for securities fraud. He pleaded guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison. Its two funds have accumulated more than $ 100 million in investments.
- The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday that Stefan He Qin, a 24-year-old Australian and founder of two crypto hedge funds, has been accused of securities fraud and pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court.
- Qin “owned and controlled two cryptocurrency investment funds” called Virgil Sigma and VQR Multistrategy Fund between 2017 and 2020, described the Department of Justice. Both funds were based in New York. According to the DOJ, the two funds had “more than $ 100 million in investments”.
- HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) special agent Peter Fitzhugh commented that “Qin has mastered the art of trickery by representing these companies as profitable investment strategies, so that more victims have fallen into their tactics and been defrauded by nearly $ 100 million” .
- US Attorney Audrey Strauss said Qin “drained almost all of the assets from the $ 90 million cryptocurrency fund he owned [the Virgil Sigma fund], stealing investors’ money, spending it on indulgences and speculative personal investments, and lying to investors about the fund’s performance and what it did with their money. “
- In addition, Strauss detailed that Qin admitted in federal court that he “tried to steal money” from the VQR Multistrategy Fund “to meet the bailout demands of defrauded investors in the first fund.” Until recently, this fund had at least approximately $ 24 million under investor management.
- Qin pleaded guilty to a charge of securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His sentence was set for May 20.
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