SEC charges Texas man with securities fraud for allegedly running Ponzi scheme involving bitcoin investments

By Christine Duhaime | July 23rd, 2013

Alleged Ponzi scheme involving bitcoin

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission announced today that it has charged Texas resident, Trendon Shavers, and an entity he ran called Bitcoin Savings and Trust (“BTCST“), with defrauding investors through the operation of a Ponzi scheme involving bitcoin. Bitcoin is a popular virtual currency. The charges have nothing to do with the integrity of bitcoin.

Pursuant to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas, Shavers is alleged to have sold investments in BTCST over the Internet to investors, a company in which he allegedly promoted as being in the business of buying and selling bitcoin. He is alleged to have raised approximately $4.5 million. Funds raised were allegedly used to gamble and pay living expenses.

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