US Authorities Arrest and Charge Miles Guo for $850M Crypto Fraud

U. S. authorities have arrested and charged Ho Wan Kwok (also known as Miles Guo) for orchestrating a massive scam.

US authorities have arrested and charged Ho Wan Kwok, also known as Miles Guo, an exiled Chinese businessman, for orchestrating a massive scam through Hymalaya Exchange. This is a pretended cryptocurrency ecosystem. On March 15, the SEC as well as the DoJ announced their lawsuits.

According to the SEC, the DoJ, Ho Wan Kwon orchestrated an elaborate fraud primarily by using a pretended cryptocurrency exchange called The Himalaya Exchange. The scheme promised investors "outsized returns" and claimed that it was possible because of the platform's stablecoin (Himalaya Dollar) and trading coin (Himalaya Coin).

In an effort to conceal his illegal activities, the defendant is also charged. Kwok is accused of using his illicit gains to greatly enrich himself and his family. He also bought a variety of luxury properties and items. Kwok made several far more extravagant purchases than the two mattresses he purchased for $36,000.On Twitter, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York showcased some of the seized items.

Kwok faces a maximum sentence of 215 years in prison for the 12 DoJ charges against him. The SEC, for its part, stated that it had "collected more than $454 million in penalties, prejudgment interests, and disgorgement, including approximately $70,000,000 previously transferred from GTV and two other entities" and that it is "distributing funds collected to harmed investor".The Himalaya Dollar and the Himalaya Coin were both unregistered securities, according to the Commission's press release.

Recent weeks have seen a lot of attention paid to regulators' aggressive approach towards seemingly innocent players in the digital asset sector. The SEC targeted stablecoins in February with its action against Paxos’ BUSD and crypto staking with its settlement agreement with Kraken. Coinbase CEO even suggested that the watchdogs might be considering banning all staking in the US.

Some speculate that the sudden closure of the crypto-friendly Signature Bank on Saturday was part of a regulatory crackdown on the digital asset sector and not a result of something wrong with the bank. Regulators, however, have denied this hypothesis.

Despite these headline-grabbing actions, US watchdogs recently took several major actions against unambivalent schemes that defraud investors and launder money. A number of agencies have recently revealed their massive enforcement actions against BitZlato, the Russian exchange. The Department of Justice has also intensified its efforts against Sam Bank Fried and his involvement in fraud committed by FTX and has added four charges against him.