Luxury goods, real estate: How a South Florida man profited from a crypto Ponzi scheme
Promising would-be investors guaranteed daily returns and the doubling of their investments within six months, Juan Tacuri rose to become one of the top promoters for a New York-based cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, according to federal prosecutors.
In exchange, the 46-year-old Palm Beach County man reaped millions of dollars, spending his ill-gotten earnings lavishly on luxury goods and real estate, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in charging with him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Tacuri's legal battle concluded this month with him pleading guilty to one count of the charge. The Greenacres resident is scheduled to be sentenced in September and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Forcount targeted Spanish-speaking investors for Ponzi scheme, prosecutors say
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated, digital-only currency that is not backed by a bank or a government and has no physical presence in the real world.
In court records, prosecutors described Tacuri as one of the most successful promoters of a Ponzi scheme known as Forcount, targeting primarily Spanish-speaking populations.
Forcount, later known as Weltsys, was a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company that promised to earn its investors profits in exchange for the purchase of cryptocurrency-related investment products.
More: Second man facing first-degree murder charge in fatal shooting over stolen dirt bike
Prosecutors: Forcount deceived investors about engaging in cryptocurrency mining
The founders and promoters of Forcount falsely promised investors that profits from the company's trading and mining operations would result in guaranteed daily returns on the investments and doubling the investments within six months, prosecutors said.
In reality, the company was not engaging in cryptocurrency mining and instead was using the investments to pay other victims of the scheme, to further promote the scheme and to enrich its founder and the promoters.
Victims of the Ponzi scheme reportedly could see purported profits posted on an online portal, but were unable to withdraw any of them and ultimately lost all their money. Prosecutors said complaints go back as far as April 2018, and in 2021, Tacuri and others stop promoting the scheme and stopped responding to some investor complaints.
Tacuri is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 24 by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York, which includes New York City and neighboring counties.
As part of his plea, Tacuri agreed to forfeit $4 million in investor funds and certain real estate purchased using those that money.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: South Florida man pleads guilty in New York-based crypto Ponzi scheme
