He is said to be running away after touching the ankle bracelet.
A man under house arrest allegedly involved in a $180 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme is on the run after his ankle bracelet was stolen, New York prosecutors said.
Horst Jicha, the former CEO of crypto mining and trading firm USI-Tech, is believed to have “interfered with his ankle bracelet” on October 4 and “escaped in violation of his pretrial conditions,” according to an October 10 court filing.
The Pre-Trial Service alerted the government 12 hours after the Jicha bracelet stopped working.
Excerpt from a letter from the Department of Justice to the Hon. Aurelia E. Merchant. Source: Court listener
A German man named Jicha was arrested in Miami, Florida on December 23, 2023, for the first time in more than five years after he entered the United States on vacation.
In the year He has not been in the US since fleeing the country in 2018 after receiving a cease and desist letter from US authorities.
Jicha was under house arrest in New York on a $5 million bond secured by his domestic partner and children, CNBC reported on October 11.
John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office, told CNBC that “a very active investigation is underway to apprehend him.”
The 64-year-old was also forced to surrender his German passport in December – so trying to emigrate abroad could be difficult.
Source: CNBC
His case went to trial on March 31 on multiple counts of securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy related to his alleged involvement in USI-Tech.
Cointelegraph reached out to Jicha's lawyers but did not receive an immediate response.
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Prosecutor Jicha promised investors that they would get 1% of their investment back every day by participating in USI-Tech's mining and trading scheme.
New York authorities say 1,774 Bitcoin (BTC) and 28,589 Ether (ETH) — worth more than $180 million at current prices — are missing from USI-Tech's fraud scheme.
Prosecutors said the money was transferred to a crypto exchange deposit account controlled by Jicha.
USI-Tech was founded in Europe in May 2017 before being “aggressively” marketed to US investors a few months later.
After receiving regulatory scrutiny from US authorities, USI-Tech was shut down on January 8, 2018, accusing investors of making misleading comments about USI-Tech products.
Investors are unable to withdraw funds from the USI-Tech portal.
Magazine: Crypto Scam Journalist Suspect Arrested, Japan's Pro-Crypto Prime Minister: Asia Express
