A federal judge has mandated that William Koo Ichioka pay more than $36 million in fines and restitution for his involvement in a fraudulent crypto and forex operation.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued the order on September 20. Ichioka was mandated to remit $31 million in restitution and a $5 million civil penalty. He was prohibited from trading in CFTC-regulated markets and from registering with the CFTC.
Ichioka admitted admission to criminal offenses encompassing wire fraud, the preparation of fraudulent tax returns, and securities and commodities fraud. He was sentenced to four years of imprisonment and subjected to multi-million dollar fines and reparations as mandated by the court ruling.
The “Ichioka Ventures” scheme entailed cheating more than one hundred investors who anticipated a 10% return on their investment every 30 working days.
Ichioka portrayed himself as a “self-made investor” with a “multimillion-dollar fortune” who would allocate capital into securities and commodities, generating profits through crypto arbitrage, futures and derivatives, and foreign exchange dealings. He perpetrated his deception on investors by utilizing counterfeit financial documents and fraudulent account statements.
