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15/07/24
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Sydney District Court Bans BitConnect Promoter
In Australia, John Bigatton has been convicted in court for its role as a promoter of the defunct crypto exchange Bitconnect and offering unlicensed financial advice. Bigatton was convicted by the Sydney District Court for promoting Bitconnect via seminars and social media from August 2017 to January 2018.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) noted that Bigatton’s promotion was carried out without obtaining the required financial services license. Hence, he cannot manage corporations over the next five years based on the conviction.
In the words of ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court, his unlicensed financial advice undermines trust in the country’s financial services industry. According to Bigatton’s claims during his seminars, BitConnect was better than traditional term deposits, predicting that the value of BitConnect Coin would hit a minimum of $1,000.
He was previously prohibited from offering financial services for seven years. They established Bitconnect eight years ago and offered a digital token called BitConnect Coin, which users may exchange for Bitcoin.
About two months ago, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) published a press release noting that Bigatton pleaded guilty to one criminal charge regarding his role as national promoter of BitConnect.
“Mr Bigatton provided financial product advice without holding an Australian Financial Services licence or authorisation to provide financial services about the Lending Platform and BCC, on six instances at various locations around Australia through seminars (four) and social media posts (two),” reads the press release.
The United States Internal Revenue Service said those behind BitConnect allegedly made it to operate like a Ponzi scheme as they paid old investors using funds provided by new investors.
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