The founder of now-defunct crypto exchange platform BitFunder, Jon Montroll, has declared himself guilty of the federal accusations of obstruction of justice and securities fraud, according to a Reuters press release.
Montroll, BitFunder crypto exchange platform’s founder, pledged guilty
The prosecutors said that Jon Montroll, 37, also called Ukyo, admitted to pleading guilty to the obstruction of justice, acknowledging that he gave false account statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during an inquiry into the falsification of the BitFunder hack of 6,000 BTCs in 2013.
Montroll, who is originally from Saginaw, Texas, ran BitFunder, where people could sell virtual shares of companies in exchange for Bitcoin (BTC), along with the exchange and Bitcoin (BTC) depository, WeExchange Australia Pty Ltd. which was one of the largest crypto-related companies in the world. Montroll seized the WeExchange’s users’ BTC and traded them for fiat money, which he later used for personal expenses.
In July 2013, Montroll also started soliciting investments in a security it named Ukyoan Loan, vowing for a daily interest rate and a straightforward withdrawal procedure. However, after the hacking of 6,000 BTC, Montroll could not afford to pay the sums owed to the loan investors or to WeExchange and BitFunder clients. Montroll kept on soliciting investments but did not disclose any information about the hacking.
At the beginning of this year, the SEC and the DOJ filed the charges against Jon Montroll
In February this year, the SEC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) formally filed charges against Montroll, accusing him of conducting operations on an off-the-record crypto exchange, deceiving the users of that exchange and making “false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offering of securities.”
In the case of BitFunder crypto exchange platform, the cyber attacks led to the loss of over 6,000 BTC, which back then totaled approximately $720,000, while now would represent more than $45 million.
