Four crypto companies and 14 individuals were charged by US prosecutors on Wednesday.
As reported by Reuters, the Boston federal prosecutors have charged Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global and MyTrade along with their leaders and employees. There were also a number of arrests internationally.
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This is part of the US Department of Justice's recent crackdown on crypto companies, including Binance.
The charges represent the first criminal prosecution against financial services companies involved in market manipulation and sham trading in the crypto sector.
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The statement issued by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts also states that four defendants have pleaded guilty and that more than $25 million in cryptocurrencies have been seized.
Prosecutors allege the defendants created and disseminated false information about their cryptocurrencies, and then used laundering operations to give the impression of heavy trading activity in order to trick investors into buying their tokens at artificially inflated prices.