A fraudster who duped investors with a crypto and foreign exchange trading scheme has been ordered to pay more than US$36 million in restitution and penalties by a U.S. court.
A judge in the U.S. district court for the Northern District of California ordered William Koo Ichioka — the operator of Ichioka Ventures LLC — to pay US$31 million in restitution and a US$5 million civil penalty in connection with a fraudulent trading scheme.
According to the court order, the scheme involved the launch of a commodity pool that promised high returns to investors from trading in forex and digital assets.
While some of the money was invested, the trading activity generated losses, rather than the high profits that investors were promised. Ichioka also used investor funds for his own expenses, provided investors with false financial statements, and repaid some investors with money from new investors.
In 2023, the court issued a permanent trading ban against Ichioka, which, along with the order imposing financial sanctions, resolves the case brought against him by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In a parallel criminal case, Ichioka previously pled guilty to fraud charges in connection with the scheme. In that case, he was sentenced to 48 months in prison and five years of supervised release, along with the court’s monetary orders.