New York man to pay $36 million for forex and crypto fraud
A US federal court ordered William Ku Ichioka to pay $31 million in restitution and $5 million in fines.
A New York man is set to pay $36 million for defrauding victims in a forex and crypto scheme.
In a press release on September 20, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it will pay $31 million to those affected by the fraud scheme and $5 million in civil penalties against former San Francisco broker William Koo Ichioka.
The sentence was imposed in a September 19 order by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Vince Chabiria.
The CFTC filed suit against Ichioka in June 2023.
The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action against Ichioka in June 2023. The charges include fraudulent solicitation and theft of more than $21 million from more than 100 pool participants. Ichioka pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to an injunction.
The allegations against Ichioka date back to 2018 related to a scheme in which he lied to unsuspecting participants in an investment fund.
Investors claim 10% return on their money every 30 days. However, this did not happen and Ichioka stole money from the victims and used these funds for personal expenses such as rent, jewelry and luxury cars.
“To conceal his fraudulent activities, Ichioka overstated the value of his holdings by generating false financial documents and providing false financial statements to participants,” the CFTC said in a press release.
Parallel criminal case
Ichioka pleaded guilty in June 2023 to charges brought against him by the Justice Department, the same issue as the CFTC complaint. The charges include wire fraud, false tax returns and commodity fraud. The court sentenced Ichioka to 48 months in prison for the five charges.
He also received a 5-year supervised release. The court ordered him to pay $5 million in fines and $31,330,715.86 in restitution.
In the year On August 14, 2023, the court issued a permanent injunction and restrained Ichioka from any future violations. It is also prohibited from trading on any CFTC-regulated markets or from being registered by the regulator.
According to the CFTC, that order and fine marks the end of the CFTC's enforcement action against the New York resident.
