Last Updated on September 10, 2023 by Bitfinsider

According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a Utah man solicited investors in a $2 million bitcoin commodity pool hoax, made bogus promises to investors via fake spreadsheets, then lied about why he couldn’t pay out when he lost virtually all of the funds.

On Friday, Jacob Orvidas, 28, reached an agreement with the agency and agreed to repay $2 million to investors as well as pay a $500,000 monetary penalty. The CFTC said in a statement that he will face a 10-year registration and trading suspension.

Beginning in 2017, Orvidas reportedly recruited four persons to trade leveraged bitcoin in a commodity pool, promising “equal proportionate profits based on each’s contribution level,” according to the FBI.

According to Orvidas, another client “contributed $100,000 worth of bitcoin and cashed out at $2.7 million.” According to the CFTC, this was not the case.

“At the same time, Orvidas told the same pool participant, ‘Crypto trading is a joke.'” It’s the same as printing money… When you have coins to margin trade on, you can open a high leverage short, dump your bags, and make a large profit on the short,” the CFTC stated.

Except for the determination about the amount of total compensation owing to pool participants, Orvidas admitted to the factual findings and legal conclusions. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission collaborated on the investigation.

On Friday, Orvidas reached a settlement with the SEC over securities law violations.