Reading Time: 2 minutes
- The two founders of the OmegaPro, a $650 million global crypto-forex investment scam, have been charged with its operation
- Michael Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso have been accused of using false promises and lavish marketing to lure investors into virtual currency schemes
- The pair have been charged with wire‑fraud and money‑laundering conspiracies, each facing up to 40 years in prison
Federal U.S. prosecutors have accused two men of being the masterminds behind the OmegaPro platform, which defrauded investors worldwide of more than $650 million through a foreign-exchange and crypto investment scam. Michael Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso allegedly used flashy promotions, such as projecting their logo on the Burj Khalifa, and social media boasts to persuade victims that their investments were safe and were poised to triple in value. In truth, however, OmegaPro was a multi-level marketing scam, with the funds squirrelled away and hidden, leaving investors with nothing.
All An Illusion
According to a July 8 indictment unsealed in Puerto Rico, Sims and Carlos Reynoso created and began promoting OmegaPro in early 2019. Sims, operating out of Georgia and Florida, allegedly served as the company’s founder and promoter, while Reynoso managed operations for Latin America and Puerto Rico. They promised investors a remarkable 300% return over 16 months via forex trading, with packages bought via digital currencies.
The indictment states the duo misled investors by staging extravagant events worldwide, including dinners, branded apparel, exotic vacations, and even projecting the OmegaPro logo onto Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, to create an illusion of legitimacy. They also used social media to showcase luxury cars, designer clothes, and vacations, all aimed at cultivating trust in the platform’s safety and profitability.
“Hack” Prevented Withdrawals
Prosecutors allege that more than $650 million in funds were raised from victims through sales of fictional trading packages, funds which were sent to addresses controlled by OmegaPro executives and then allegedly transferred to OmegaPro insiders and high-ranking promoters to disperse the funds and obscure their origins. When investors attempted to withdraw their investments, OmegaPro followed the crypto investment scam playbook to a tee, claiming that a network hack prevented them from being able to fulfil these requests.
Chief Guy Ficco of the IRS Criminal Investigation division described the level of deception involved:
This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime. OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin – stealing over $650 million from everyday people and vanishing it into virtual currency. These weren’t just scams; they were precision-engineered betrayals.
Sims and Carlos Reynoso, who both profited from the scheme to the tune of millions of dollars, have been charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering, with potential sentences of up to 20 years per count.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
- The two founders of the OmegaPro, a $650 million global crypto-forex investment scam, have been charged with its operation
- Michael Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso have been accused of using false promises and lavish marketing to lure investors into virtual currency schemes
- The pair have been charged with wire‑fraud and money‑laundering conspiracies, each facing up to 40 years in prison
Federal U.S. prosecutors have accused two men of being the masterminds behind the OmegaPro platform, which defrauded investors worldwide of more than $650 million through a foreign-exchange and crypto investment scam. Michael Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso allegedly used flashy promotions, such as projecting their logo on the Burj Khalifa, and social media boasts to persuade victims that their investments were safe and were poised to triple in value. In truth, however, OmegaPro was a multi-level marketing scam, with the funds squirrelled away and hidden, leaving investors with nothing.
All An Illusion
According to a July 8 indictment unsealed in Puerto Rico, Sims and Carlos Reynoso created and began promoting OmegaPro in early 2019. Sims, operating out of Georgia and Florida, allegedly served as the company’s founder and promoter, while Reynoso managed operations for Latin America and Puerto Rico. They promised investors a remarkable 300% return over 16 months via forex trading, with packages bought via digital currencies.
The indictment states the duo misled investors by staging extravagant events worldwide, including dinners, branded apparel, exotic vacations, and even projecting the OmegaPro logo onto Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, to create an illusion of legitimacy. They also used social media to showcase luxury cars, designer clothes, and vacations, all aimed at cultivating trust in the platform’s safety and profitability.
“Hack” Prevented Withdrawals
Prosecutors allege that more than $650 million in funds were raised from victims through sales of fictional trading packages, funds which were sent to addresses controlled by OmegaPro executives and then allegedly transferred to OmegaPro insiders and high-ranking promoters to disperse the funds and obscure their origins. When investors attempted to withdraw their investments, OmegaPro followed the crypto investment scam playbook to a tee, claiming that a network hack prevented them from being able to fulfil these requests.
Chief Guy Ficco of the IRS Criminal Investigation division described the level of deception involved:
This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime. OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin – stealing over $650 million from everyday people and vanishing it into virtual currency. These weren’t just scams; they were precision-engineered betrayals.
Sims and Carlos Reynoso, who both profited from the scheme to the tune of millions of dollars, have been charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering, with potential sentences of up to 20 years per count.
