Dear Readers,

Please find below a newspaper article detailing one of the huge global ongoing fraud cases in which our law firm, DefendMe, is representing a substantial number of victims. This criminal case has been filed in multiple jurisdictions, and the process of summoning victims to provide their statements has already commenced. This is the first step in the legal process. The extract from the article below:

Ex-Man City crypto partner linked to alleged £1.1bn+ fraud

3Key, the ghostship crypto company that City partnered with late last year, turns out to be run by a group of German promoters who are accused of being part of a massive pyramid scheme.

Last November, Man City announced a new crypto partner – 3Key – only to suspend the deal within days when it became clear that there was no verifiable information about the company. City subsequently refused to discuss the partnership or to reveal what due diligence they did on 3Key, leaving some serious unanswered questions. Questions like: Just who was 3Key? How did Man City come to sign up with a company about which nothing was known? And, above all, was 3Key a legitimate but flawed business – or an actual fraud?

The answer, I can reveal, is that it may be the latter. Yes, almost unbelievably, Man City partnered with a gang of alleged crooks.

An ever-changing crypto scam

In May 2022, a group of cryptocurrency investors filed a criminal complaint with the state attorney’s office in Zagreb, Croatia, alleging that a series of cryptocurrency investment firms, of which 3Key was the latest, were fraudulent enterprises and part of an interconnected set of pyramid schemes.

The investor group, which consists of over 400 victims from around the world, is seeking the prosecution of the architects of the fraud and the return of £45m – their share of what they say was a fraud worth over £1.1bn.

According to this group, 3Key was just the latest incarnation of a rolling crypto fraud that extended over a number of years. Investors, they say, were encouraged to put money into schemes that promised significant return and then, when these collapsed, they were promised stakes in replacement schemes.

This is a type of what’s called an “exit scam”, where in principle it seems possible to get your money back but, in practice, procedural issues always frustrate you. Often victims are told they need to put in additional funds before they can unlock their original investment.

This was apparently the model for 3Key’s precursors, which seem to have included alleged crypto frauds called Jubilee Ace, AQUA coin, Jenco and Globalytics Tech Research. At each stage, the same core group of German promoters appear to have been involved, hawking the coins via real world and online seminars…

Full article: https://theuglygame.wordpress.com/2022/06/02/ex-man-city-crypto-partner-linked-to-alleged-1-1bn-fraud/

If you are a victim of this fraud and wish to hire our office or have any questions regarding your legal status you can contact us via our DefendMe Platform (https://defendme.global/) or via email office@defendme.global.

Your DefendMe Team