The Northern District of Texas said that Serbia extradited to the United States its citizen accused of defrauding investors of more than $70 million.
Serbian authorities arrested 32-year-old Antonije Stoilkovic in July 2020 in Belgrade at the request of U.S. law enforcement. He subsequently agreed to extradition.
A Dallas court is expected to bring charges against Stoilkovic and his associates for conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. The prosecution says that more than a dozen alleged fraudsters duped victims, including residents of Texas, out of tens of millions of dollars.
The suspects created more than 20 fake platforms for investing in binary options and Bitcoin mining, promising an average per-trade return of up to 80%. They claimed that investors could buy Bitcoin for half the price on their mining platforms.
For the fake companies, including Options Rider, Bancde Options, Start Options, Dragon Mining, BTC Mining Factor and Trinity Mining, the criminals created fake leadership profiles with names and photographs, mostly female. To persuade potential investors of the platforms’ legitimacy, they even held video conferences.
After money was transferred, the defendants granted investors access to a portal that consistently displayed positive returns on investments, purported trading activity, and a withdrawal history. In reality, there was no real activity, and the funds obtained were used for personal needs and to sustain the operation of the fraudulent scheme.
“This $70 million fraud spanned several continents and was aimed at both American citizens and foreigners,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.
Some of Stoilkovic’s co-conspirators were arrested by Serbian police during the July operation, with one arrested in October in California. If convicted, he and his accomplices face up to 20 years in prison.
Earlier, a 24-year-old Australian citizen, having admitted guilt in fraud while running a New York-registered cryptocurrency hedge fund, could face a similar sentence in the United States.
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