Dear Clients,
We are providing you with the court documents from the Bitclub case in the text below, for your reference. It may be of interest to you to observe the procedural workings of the American judicial system. It is evident that this process has been managed with a high level of quality and attention to detail. The culmination of this criminal procedure is imminent, with some verdicts expected to be delivered by the year-end. Subsequently, a determination will be made regarding the reimbursement of funds to the victims.
Included herein is an example of one of the court decisions:
NEWARK, N.J. – A Nevada man today admitted his role in laundering funds solicited for BitClub Network, a $722 million fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Gordon Brad Beckstead, 57, of Henderson, Nevada, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of aiding in the preparation of a false tax return.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From April 2014 through December 2019, the BitClub Network was a fraudulent scheme that solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded investors for recruiting new investors into the scheme. Matthew Brent Goettsche, BitClub Network’s creator and operator, and Silviu Catalin Balaci, Russ Albert Medlin, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel, were charged by indictment in December 2019 in connection with the BitClub Network scheme.
Beckstead, a BitClub Network investor, admitted conspiring with Goettsche and others to launder funds earned by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network. At the direction of Goettsche, Beckstead created and controlled various entities that were used by Beckstead, Goettsche, and others to shield Goettsche’s association with the BitClub Network and to disguise income derived by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network.
Beckstead further admitted to controlling bank accounts associated with the entities and directing transfers to and from the accounts exceeding $50 million. Beckstead acknowledged that the transfers were designed to conceal the source of Goettsche’s income, disguise Goettsche’s ownership of certain property and assets paid for with BitClub Network proceeds, and to help Goettsche evade tax reporting requirements. Beckstead also admitted that he and others provided false and misleading information to financial institutions to conceal the source of Goettsche’s income.
Beckstead, a former CPA, also admitted to aiding at least two different tax preparers in the preparation of Goettsche’s false 2017 and 2018 federal tax returns.
Beckstead provided the tax preparers with documents and records to assist in the preparation of the returns. Beckstead admitted that he and Goettsche knew the 2017 and 2018 tax returns were fraudulent in that they failed to report more than $60 million in total income earned by Goettsche through his operation of the BitClub Network. This allowed Goettsche to avoid paying more than $20 million in federal income taxes.
The money laundering conspiracy charge to which Beckstead pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. The tax charge to which Beckstead pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $100,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 9, 2022
Zoran Miljakovic
Attorney at Law