- Fraud investors out of $45 million
- Money was spent on cars and real estate
- The scam affected 10,000 people
- The man who participated in the scam goes on trial May 20</nbsp;
The U.S. Department of Justice charges a 57-year-old man named Brian Lee with participating in the $45 million CoinDeal investment scam.. A Nevada resident faces federal trial today in Las Vegas.
The court says Lee allegedly conspired with CoinDeal founder Neal Chandran. They also created many scam companies that operated under the name “ViRSE” and included several subsidiaries.
They deceived investors and promised incredibly high returns.
The criminals explained to the victims that these firms were allegedly developing virtual world technology, including their own cryptocurrency, for use in the meta universe.
Lee allegedly was the formal owner and manager of ViMarket, receiving instructions from Chandran on how to spend funds received into ViMarket accounts from investors.
According to reports, Lee and Chandran misappropriated millions of dollars in investment funds and spent it on expensive cars and real estate.
Chandran was arrested almost a year ago, in June 2022. He was indicted for his likely role in the scheme.
Lee is charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, mail fraud, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property. He was charged with a total of seven counts.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each count of fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy.. Also, up to 10 years in prison for each count of participating in illegal money transactions.