Florida Court Fines Founders of EmpiresX Crypto Scheme

The Southern District Court of Florida has sentenced the founders of the EmpiresX cryptocurrency scheme, Emerson Pires and Flavio Gonsalves, to pay $130 million to clients and authorities for defrauding investors.

It was established that Empires Consulting, the company behind the EmpiresX investment scheme, promised investors high returns. They raised about $100 million, which was used to purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT stablecoins. Investors were unable to withdraw their funds, and to maintain their trust, the platform provided fake profit reports, which were later recognized as fraudulent in court. According to the court's ruling, the founders of EmpiresX spent investors' money on personal expenses, luxury items, and travel.

Law enforcement seized $22.8 million in crypto assets from the convicted founders. The officials were found guilty of operating the project without registration with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), defrauding investors, distorting information, providing false data, and embezzling funds.

Now, Pires and Gonsalves are required to return $32.1 million in illegally obtained profits to investors and pay an administrative fine of $96.5 million.