EmpiresX bitcoin-pyramid trader sentenced to four years and three months in the United States

The lead trader of the EmpiresX cryptocurrency pyramid, Joshua Nicolas, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Law360 reports.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, from September 2020 to early 2022 Nicolas, along with accomplices, promoted the fraudulent investment platform. The defendant promised guaranteed profits through the use of a trading bot allegedly based on ‘artificial and human intelligences’.

The total loss from the pyramid’s operations exceeded $100 million.

All client funds were laundered through an unnamed foreign cryptocurrency exchange. Directly to the EmpiresX trading account they directed no more than $1 million.

Two of Nicolas’s accomplices — Emerson Pires and Flavio Goncalves — left the United States in early 2022 and are now believed to be in Brazil.

As reported in September, Joshua Nicolas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

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