{"id":76753,"date":"2023-04-05T18:03:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T15:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=76753"},"modified":"2025-09-10T19:13:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T16:13:54","slug":"sri-lankan-authorities-uncover-47-million-crypto-ponzi-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/sri-lankan-authorities-uncover-47-million-crypto-ponzi-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan authorities uncover $47 million crypto Ponzi scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is preparing to sue a group suspected of organising a $47 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, according to Al Jazeera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), the alleged Ponzi scheme was created by a group of nine people.<\/p>\n

They promoted a crypto project called Sports Chain and an associated token that never actually existed.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankan authorities took note of the suspicious activity after last year\u2019s Al Jazeera investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“They siphoned off about 15 billion rupees (~$46.6 million) from more than 8,000 Sri Lankan residents,” the claim states.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some of the suspects were detained in 2022, but in December they were released on bail.<\/p>\n

The FCID asserts that the fraudsters allegedly invested part of the funds received from their victims in expensive cars and luxurious apartments in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Shamal Bandara, named the principal suspect, told investigators that he has only a house in Kurunegala and an old car. However, law enforcement found that he drove a jeep purchased in his mother’s name.<\/p>\n

Additionally, a Mercedes-Benz registered in Bandara’s brother’s name was used by Zhang Kai and Wang Yixiao \u2014 two Chinese nationals who are also defendants in the case.<\/p>\n

\n

“The suspects allegedly sought to link themselves to a fraudulent company to create the impression that they had accumulated their assets legally,” according to the FCID report.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Defense lawyers for the accused fully deny their clients’ involvement.<\/p>\n

Some investors interviewed by Al Jazeera journalists said they mortgaged their cars and apartments to invest in the project.<\/p>\n

Under Sri Lankan law, organising a financial pyramid scheme can carry a sentence of five to 20 years in prison, as well as a fine equal to three times the amount stolen.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, the country’s economy has weakened noticeably, prompting citizens to show keen interest in digital assets. In March 2023, Sri Lanka’s inflation reached 50.3%.<\/p>\n

SEC<\/span> Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission secured a favorable verdict in the case against the organizers of the Ormenus Coin scam.<\/a> The defendants will pay $102 million in penalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is preparing to sue a group suspected of organising a $47 million crypto Ponzi scheme. Al Jazeera reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1162,1246],"class_list":["post-76753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-court-cases","tag-scammers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"43","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76755,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76753\/revisions\/76755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}