Australian regulator charges BitConnect promoter John Bigatton

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged John Bigatton, a New South Wales resident, with promoting the fraudulent cryptocurrency project BitConnect.

According to ASIC, Bigatton promoted the company from August 2017 to January 2018. For operating an unregistered investment offering, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $42 000; for providing financial services without a licence — up to two years’ imprisonment with a similar fine.

He is also charged with four counts of disseminating statements that misled. The maximum penalty for each charge is ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of $945 000. Earlier, the regulator barred him from providing financial services for seven years.

In January 2018, BitConnect was accused of running a pyramid scheme. At the height of its popularity, the BitConnect coin price exceeded $500 and ranked in the top ten on CoinMarketCap.

Investors were warned away from BitConnect by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, billionaire Mike Novogratz and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee.

BitConnect: Why did the community revolt against the project

In August 2018, police arrested the head of the project’s Indian arm, Diyash Darji. A year later he was charged with organising another multi-million-dollar crypto pyramid scheme.

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