Accused $150M Crypto Fraudster Turns Fugitive After Disabling Ankle Monitor

A German nationwide accused of overseeing a $150 million crypto fraud has turned fugitive after failing to look in court docket.

Horst Jicha was dealing with trial on costs of securities fraud, wire fraud, and cash laundering over his alleged involvement within the USI Tech cryptocurrency scheme.

Per CNBC, Jicha is suspected of tampering together with his ankle bracelet monitor, after Pretrial Providers seen that it had stopped working. Jicha then failed to reply to an e mail from Pretrial Providers directing him to go to their workplace.

Over a day had elapsed earlier than Pretrial Providers notified prosecutors that Jicha’s ankle monitor had stopped working, CNBC reported. Following his failure to look in court docket, there’s a “very lively investigation underway to seize him,” John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. legal professional’s workplace, mentioned.

Jicha was on a $5 million bond assured by his home accomplice, his kids, and three others, which will probably be forfeited following his flight.

What was USI Tech?

Jicha is accused of working USI Tech, a “multilevel advertising and marketing scheme to defraud U.S. buyers excited in regards to the crypto market,” U.S. Lawyer for the Japanese District of New York Breon Peace mentioned in a January 2024 statement saying the fees.

USI Tech allegedly assured returns to buyers. In actuality, prosecutors contend, the platform was “only a facade,” and after questions have been raised, Jicha absconded with over $150 million of buyers’ funds, the majority of which was held in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Per CNBC, Jicha was positioned underneath home arrest, and was required to give up all passports and journey paperwork to the authorities as a situation of his launch.

Edited by Andrew Hayward