Accused Operator For $7 Million Fraud Expected To Enter Guilty Plea

Jon Barry Thompson is expected to enter a guilty plea with prosecutors eyeing to finalize the proceedings by September. The accused operator of a fraudulent crypto escrow service defrauded $7 million from at least two customers.

In a letter submitted to the court the prosecution wrote, “the parties expect to reach a disposition of this matter and respectfully request that the court set a control date in September 2020 for the entry of that disposition”.

Earlier in April, Thompson’s Counsel, Peggy Cross-Goldenberg mentioned that both sides have made substantial progress.

In September 2019, Thompson displayed that on four counts of fraud relating to his provision of cryptocurrency escrow services through his firm Volantis Market Making.

Prosecutors have made allegations that Thompson received around $3 million to fund the purchase of bitcoin on behalf of a company in 2018, according to a Cointelegraph report.

Prosecutors allege that Thompson received $3 million to fund the purchase of Bitcoin (BTC) on behalf of a company during June and July of 2018. Thompson then sent the funds to a third-party entity without first receiving any BTC — resulting in the apparent loss of the funds.

After allegedly lying to the firm about the status of the transaction, Thompson convinced a second firm to forward $4 million to purchase cryptocurrency — also resulting in a significant portion of the funds being forwarded to a third party without the client receiving any BTC.

Volantis is also facing civil charges filed through the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while Thompson is also facing a lawsuit brought by Irish firm Symphony FS — who are believed to have forked out the $4 million to Volantis for escrow services, Cointelegraph further reported.