A U.S. judge ruled that a California man must pay $36 million in damages for cryptocurrency and forex fraud

ChainCatcher news, according to a statement released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California has ordered 30-year-old William Koo Ichioka to pay $31 million to victims and a civil penalty of $5 million.

The CFTC charged Ichioka in June 2023 for misappropriating funds in a scheme involving cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin and Ethereum) and foreign exchange trading. As part of a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also brought charges against him.

Ichioka claimed to be "someone who started pursuing wealth early and has accumulated millions of dollars." According to the court ruling, he told investors that participating in his commodity liquidity pool could yield a 10% return every 30 business days. Ichioka did use a portion of investor funds to invest in startup stocks, digital asset commodities, and foreign exchange trading, but he also "mixed participants' funds with his own" and used that money to pay for rent, restaurants, bars, taxis, gym memberships, and luxury cars among other expenses.