A New York jury has convicted two former promoters of alleged crypto mining and trading company IcomTech of wire fraud conspiracy — with both now facing a maximum sentence of 20 years for their role in the “Ponzi” scheme.
David Brend and Gustavo Rodriguez were convicted of wire fraud conspiracy for helping to promote and run the now-collapsed fake crypto mining and trading scheme.
On March 14, a jury in a New York District Court found David Brend and Gustavo Rodriguez guilty of one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, putting an end to a trial that lasted two weeks.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a March 15 press release that IcomTech founder David Carmona hired Rodriguez in mid-2018 to make a website for the newly-launched IctomTech which touted itself as a crypto mining and trading firm.
Two defendants convicted at trial for participating in cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme “IcomTech”@HSINewYork https://t.co/KL7vjJuzc1
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 15, 2024
Carmona, Brend and others claimed to IcomTech investors that the company’s crypto trading and mining would give guaranteed daily returns.
However, prosecutors allege the company wasn’t actually trading or mining crypto — instead, it was a “Ponzi” scheme that used investor funds to pay other investors.
Rodriguez also advised on the pricing of “investment packages” and the fake daily returns which investors could access through the site and a portal he maintained.
Brend and the scheme’s other promoters, meanwhile, “siphoned off, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in victim funds,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The pilfered funds were used to buy real estate, travel and host “lavish expos and small community presentations,” where promoters showed up in “expensive cars and wearing luxury clothing” to lure more investors with promises of “financial freedom.”
IcomTech investors saw their faked profits rise in the portal but couldn’t withdraw and were “met with excuses, delays, and hidden fees.”
As complaints rose, IcomTech offered a token called “Icoms” to raise extra cash on the false claim it would be accepted by companies in payments.
Icoms were “essentially worthless” and caused further losses as IcomTech collapsed in 2019 and stopped making payments.
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The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said the scheme “defrauded tens of thousands of people out of tens of millions of dollars” and cheated “working people out of their hard-earned money.”
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“As a result of their lies to hardworking people, Brend and Rodriguez stand convicted of a federal crime and face substantial time in prison,” he added.
Brend is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27, and Rodriguez is scheduled for sentencing the day after on June 28.
IcomTech’s former CEO Marco Ochoa was sentenced to five years in prison in January after pleading guilty to conspiracy to wire fraud conspiracy while Carmona, the founder, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in December.
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