A pastor sold his own cryptocurrency to believers and defrauded them of $5.9 million
Kyiv • UNN
A clergyman from Washington, D.C., defrauded 1,500 people of $5.9 million through the fake crypto project Solano Fi. The pastor convinced his parishioners to invest, claiming that the idea came to him in a dream.
A pastor from the United States of America faces 20 years in prison for cryptocurrency fraud, the losses from which are estimated at millions of dollars. This was reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office (Eastern District of Washington), UNN reports.
Details
It is noted that Francis Obando Pinillo, a 51-year-old pastor of the Pasco Church in Washington State, encouraged members of his congregation to invest in the cryptocurrency investment business. The clergyman claimed that the idea of Solano Fi (the name of his crypto project) came to him in a dream and that it was a safe and guaranteed investment.
To attract more investors beyond his parishioners, the pastor created a Solano Fi Facebook page and a Telegram group called Multimillionarios SolanoFi, which had 1,500 followers
The indictment also alleges that Pinillo told potential investors that Solano Fi used cryptocurrency "staking" to guarantee a 34.9% risk-free monthly return
According to the prosecutor's office, Francis Obando Pinillo directed investments to his own accounts and the accounts of other members of the conspiracy. The padre demonstrated fake balances and income to the so-called investors via a mobile application.
The clergyman also encouraged people to attract more investors to generate additional profit, thus expanding the circle of victims even further.
The indictment alleges that when victims attempted to withdraw their assets from Solano Fi, Pinillo claimed that he could not return the assets until the cryptocurrency markets improved, either because the website or app would not work or that he would not return their investment unless the victim brought in a new investor to "buy out" their account
In this way, the fraudulent clergyman defrauded at least 1,500 people in the United States, including members of his Spanish church, defrauding them of at least $5.9 million between 2021 and 2023.
The pastor is now facing 26 charges of financial fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment for up to 20 years.
Recall
The CEO of a Kansas bank transferred $47 million of bank funds to fake crypto wallets after a fraudulent WhatsApp scheme. The FBI managed to recover only $8 million, and the banker was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
