The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday filed charges against Francier Obado Pinillo, accusing the former pastor of orchestrating a multi-level trading scheme that allegedly took at least $5.9 million in cash and digital assets for a fake “Solanophie platform.”
With the sponsored staking platform, which claims investors can earn up to 34.9 percent monthly, Pinillo allegedly targeted “unsophisticated investors,” including Spanish-speaking members of a Washington-based church. complaint Registered with the CFTC.
Staking refers to the process by which users pledge digital assets to a network to help verify transactions—but the commission said no activity took place.
Instead, Pinillo pocketed money from 1,500 unsuspecting investors, made false statements about trading bitcoin on their behalf, and later claimed that the investors' money was lost to FTX. Pinillo sent $4 million worth of digital assets to 23 “private digital wallets” that prosecutors believe exist in Colombia.
Modeling Solana's name, Pinillo Solanofi's platform, the fifth largest by market capitalization, is said to never exist. Still, he provided victims with a false dashboard that showed falsified balance sheets with supposed profits, which the CFTC said was critical to maintaining Pinillo's scheme alongside Ponzi-like “referral fees” to attract new investors.
The regulator charged that the former pastor's scheme was not limited to the Evergreen State. At a megachurch in Florida, Pinillo complained on the Solanophile platform that he “taught the congregation the importance of freeing themselves from poverty.”
Pinillo “was able to find many clients who believed he was honest and trustworthy,” prosecutors wrote.
The case, in which a religious official was accused of abusing his trust regarding crypto-tech, sparked civil lawsuits against a Colorado-based couple earlier this year. Promoting a pretense backed by nothing but the word of God, Colorado's securities regulator filed a lawsuit against Pastor Eligio “Eli” Regalado. INDXcoinAnd the winning grace of his online church.
Meanwhile, the absurd Solana meme coin Smoked chicken fish (SCF), which plans to build a physical church around its own religion, ended the controversy in September. Firing the leader, the main team members Accused “Pastor Kelby” of “Pulling the Rugs” and other unpleasant behavior.
Pinillo in 2011. Despite not having an account on FTX, which collapsed tragically in 2022, it is said to have sent digital assets to another trading venue listed on “Exchange A”. Among the digital assets requested by the former pastor, Pinillo is said to have instructed investors to send them. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, DogecoinAnd Shiba Innu A wallet that he created and controls.
At one point, the former pastor told investors that he would launch a token that embodies Christian values called “ShekkelCoin.” Prosecutors said the token was never released.
Whether it's the FTX bankruptcy or technical issues with the Solanofi platform, Pinillo has made several excuses for not being able to cash out investors that prosecutors say are bogus. At a Washington church, Pinillo pleads to no avail for a woman to return her money.
The former pastor wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, “The dark night has never conquered the power of the morning.” PostFrom Spanish by Decrypt. “It's because when the storm gets worse, it's going to calm down.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward.
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