Robert Farkas, the co-founder of Centra Tech, partnering with Sohrab Sharma and Raymond Trapani, both of whom are also defendants in the lawsuit. The crypto scam raised over $32 million in an ICO that lasted nine months, relying on lies, misrepresentations and celebrity endorsements to lure investors. Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled endorsed the crypto scam to their social media followers, for which they paid penalties. The defendants pleaded guilty on two counts of fraud.
Farkas pleaded guilty on two counts of frauds.
Centra Tech claimed to be building financial products for the digital currency economy. In order to lure investors, the founders of the company claimed that they had struck a partnership with Bancorp, VISA and Mastercard. This would enable Centra Tech to issue the ‘Centra Card’, a VISA or Mastercard debit card that would make it possible to spend digital currencies easily, so the investors thought. According to the Department of Justice announcement, defendants also lied about the company’s leadership to the investors. The three founders led investors to believe that Centra Tech would be led by ‘Michael Edwards’ as the CEO.