The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered William Koo Ichioka, a New York resident formerly of San Francisco, to pay $31 million in restitution and a $5 million civil monetary penalty in connection with a Forex and Crypto fraud.
Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Ichioka would pay the total sum of $36 million for his role in accepting investment funds from participants with false claims of a 10% return every 30 business days.
Ichioka Ventures behind FX and Crypto Ponzi scheme
Although Ichioka invested some funds in forex and digital asset commodities, he commingled participant money with his own funds and used participant funds for his own personal expenses, including, among other things, rent for his personal residence, jewelry, watches, and luxury vehicles.
The court, based on CFTC and DoJ findings, learned that Ichioka concealed his fraudulent activity by overstating the value of assets he held by generating false financial documents and presenting false account statements to participants.
William Koo Ichioka was subject to a civil complaint by the CFTC as well as a criminal action by the Department of Justice, which charged Ichioka with one count of wire fraud, two counts of preparing false tax returns, one count of fraud in connection with the purchase and sale of securities and one count of commodities fraud, all based on the same conduct alleged in the CFTC’s complaint.
Ichioka pled guilty to these charges in July 2023 and subsequently was sentenced to 48 months in prison, given an additional term of 5 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $5 million fine, and $31,330,715.86 in restitution to victims.
Ichioka, 30, had pled guilty in July 2023 to five felony charges, including wire fraud, tax fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud. Court documents revealed that from 2018 to 2019, he solicited investments through his company, Ichioka Ventures, promising investors returns of 10% every 30 days from trading in cryptocurrencies, securities, and other assets. Over this period, he managed to raise more than $21 million from over 100 victims.
However, Ichioka’s investment claims were unfounded. By late 2019, Ichioka privately acknowledged to associates that the “company hasn’t made any money since we started.”
To perpetuate his scheme, Ichioka repaid earlier investors with money obtained from new investments, creating a Ponzi-like structure. His financial mismanagement left him indebted, with at least $21 million owed to non-family investors and over $40 million to family members who contributed funds to the venture.
