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'Bitcoin Beautee' In MD Admits To Role In $1.89B Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme 'Bitcoin Beautee' In MD Admits To Role In $1.89B Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme
'Bitcoin Beautee' In MD Admits To Role In $1.89B Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme A Maryland woman went under the name of “Bitcoin Beautee” during her role alongside two others in a Cryptocurrency fraud scheme that netted more than $1.89 billion, she admitted in US District Court on Monday, Jan. 29. Brenda Chunga, 43, of Severna Park, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud for her role as a promoter of HyperFund, also known as HyperTech, HyperCapital, HyperVerse, and HyperNation, US Attorney Erek Barron announced. The plea came just four days after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Sam Lee, 35, an Australian citizen…

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by Valerie Musson
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Navy Engineer, Wife Sentenced For Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Crypto: Feds Navy Engineer, Wife Sentenced For Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Crypto: Feds
Navy Engineer, Wife Sentenced For Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Crypto: Feds The wife of a former Navy engineer who worked with her husband and attempted to sell American secrets to a foreign country to an undercover operative got a longer sentence than her husband, federal officials announced on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Diana Toebbe, 46, of Annapolis, and husband Jonathan Toebbe, 44, serviced three “dead-drops," which were picked up by undercover FBI agents during a year-long sting operation, federal prosecutors said, leading to lengthy prison terms for both. On Wednesday, Jonathan Toebbe received a sentence of 232 months - more than 19 years - in prison, while his wife…

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by Zak Failla
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13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY 13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY
13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY Thirteen people, including members of China’s security and intelligence services, have been charged with trying to recruit professors and others in the United States to act as agents for their country, federal authorities in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC announced. Tales of international intrigue include allegations that the defendants plotted to steal documents from a federal prosecutor's office to subvert a criminal investigation into a major Chinese company. Some of them are also charged in a spy-versus-spy encounter involving a $41,000 bribe in Bitcoin paid to an American…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Marylanders Invested $15M Into Unregistered Crypto-Lending Platform Nexo, AG Says Marylanders Invested $15M Into Unregistered Crypto-Lending Platform Nexo, AG Says
Marylanders Invested $15M Into Unregistered Crypto-Lending Platform Nexo, AG Says The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Securities Division is the latest to file a cease and desist order against a cryptocurrency account provider who allegedly violated state law. Nexo Group and its co-founder Antoni Trenchev violated the law “with the offer and sale of Nexo’s Earn Interest Product (EIP) accounts," Attorney General Brian Frosh and Attorneys General from seven other states said. More than 93,300 US residents have EIP accounts with Nexo Group, investigators noted, of which, more than 1,800 were from Maryland. Those accounts collectively hold assets totaling…

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by Zak Failla
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NJ Love Seeker Loses $450,000 To Scammer On Dating App For 'Rich And Attractive' NJ Love Seeker Loses $450,000 To Scammer On Dating App For 'Rich And Attractive'
NJ Love Seeker Loses $450,000 To Scammer On Dating App For 'Rich And Attractive' It's heartbreaking to learn that someone you've become enamored with online isn't into you, but it's downright tragic to discover that person just made off with $450,000 of your money. That's right: A con artist collected nearly a half-million dollars in crypto from a Glen Rock, NJ resident who fell for an online romance scam. You could call it missed fortune. The victim met the imposter on Luxy, a dating app for millionaires -- and those looking to meet them -- that boasts of collecting "the most attractive and financially stable of dating applicants." Or, as the founders of the Hon…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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LOOKIN' FOR LOVE: Police Detective Sniffs Out Online Scam That Victimized Glen Rock Man, Others LOOKIN' FOR LOVE: Police Detective Sniffs Out Online Scam That Victimized Glen Rock Man, Others
Lookin' FOR Love: Police Detective Sniffs Out Online Scam That Victimized Glen Rock Man, Others A Glen Rock detective was in for a surprise when he traced an online scam that victimized a local man to a woman in Washington State. It turns out that person got scammed herself. Before he was done, Glen Rock Police Detective Sgt. James Calaski found three other victims who got taken by a money launderer who lives in Africa, Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. All of them were apparently looking for love. The con man had developed a virtual relationship with the 65-year-old Washington State woman, convincing her that he was a contractor flipping houses in Texas, Ackermann said. He the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Navy Engineer, Wife Admit Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Cryptocurrency: Feds Navy Engineer, Wife Admit Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Cryptocurrency: Feds
Navy Engineer, Wife Admit Trying To Sell American Submarine Secrets For Cryptocurrency: Feds The wife of a former Navy engineer from Maryland has also admitted in federal court that she helped him try to sell some of America’s best kept submarine secrets to a foreign country in exchange for cryptocurrency. Diana Toebbe, 46, of Annapolis, served as a lookout while her husband, Jonathan Toebbe, 43, serviced three “dead-drops," which were picked up by undercover FBI agents during a year-long sting operation, federal prosecutors said Friday. Diana pleaded guilty to conspiracy to communicate Restricted Data — four days after her husband admitted to the same. The Toebbes were …

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by Cecilia Levine
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NJ-Based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty NJ-Based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty
Nj-based Crypto Firm Will Pay SEC, States Unprecedented $100M Penalty A Jersey City-based cryptocurrency company will pay a record $100 million to settle alleged violations of investor-protection laws, state and federal authorities jointly announced. BlockFi Lending LLC neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing when it agreed to the highest fine ever by a cryptocurrency company, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Monday, Feb. 14. However, it did take a different course than many of its crypto rivals by not fighting the fine. Of the total, $50 million will be paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and up to $50 millio…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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CRYPTO CRIME: Rapping 'Crocodile of Wall Street,' Husband Nabbed In $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Bust CRYPTO CRIME: Rapping 'Crocodile of Wall Street,' Husband Nabbed In $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Bust
Crypto Crime: Rapping 'Crocodile of Wall Street,' Husband Nabbed In $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Bust The self-described “Crocodile of Wall Street” and her husband were arrested by federal agents in Manhattan on Tuesday, Feb. 8, on charges of conspiring to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen in a bombshell hack of a virtual currency exchange. Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Rhiannon Morgan, a 31-year-old business blogger/rapper, weren’t charged in the 2016 theft from Bitfinex of what at the time was $71 million worth of cryptocurrency – now valued at $4.5 billion. They are charged with conspiring to (a) commit money laundering and (b) defraud the United States, …

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by Jerry DeMarco