Forcount crypto scheme promoters plead guilty to wire fraud conspiracy

Two individuals indicted for their involvement in the Forcount cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme have pleaded guilty to charges in a New York courtroom.

In a July 22 hearing at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Antonia Perez Hernandez and Nestor Nunez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to the Forcount scheme. Hernandez, Nunez and others allegedly pilfered $8.4 million from mostly Spanish-speaking investors between 2017 and 2021 by promoting crypto trading and mining on Forcount, promising significant returns.

Of the five defendants in the case charged in 2022, Juan Tacuri has also pleaded guilty. He was one of the promoters who traveled across the US to host presentations in which he convinced investors to sign up for Forcount. As part of a deal with prosecutors announced in June, he agreed to forfeit roughly $4 million and properties purchased with victims’ funds.

Sentencing soon

Judge Analisa Torres is expected to sentence Tacuri on Sept. 24. At the time of publication, no sentencing hearing appeared on the docket for Nunez or Hernandez. The remaining defendants, Francisley Da Silva and Ramon Perez, did not seem to have entered a guilty plea at the time of publication and were awaiting trial.

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The Forcount guilty plea was the latest movement in a series of criminal cases brought by US authorities against individuals involved with crypto firms. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is serving 25 years in prison after a 2023 conviction for fraud associated with the misuse of customer funds at the crypto exchange. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao will likely be in prison until October following a guilty plea and four-month sentence for violating US money laundering laws.

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