A Serbian man has been extradited to the U.S. to face charges in the Northern District of Texas. According to a press release on February 5th, 2021 by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Antonije Stojilkovic and six other co-defendants have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.
The scheme targeted domestic and international investors who were under the impression they could use an online platform to invest in binary options. Stojilkovic’s various internet websites claimed to be the global market leader in binary options trading. The websites claimed investors could expect an 80% payout and 20% refund on all losses.
Furthermore, Stojilkovic’s scheme also claimed to sell bitcoin at half of the market price, which was possible because of state-of-the-art bitcoin mining facilities. Unfortunately for the victims of this scheme, there were no mining facilities and no real payouts on their options contracts.
Allegedly, the online portals would show false records of high returns on options and bitcoin which would only make the investor want to invest more. Stojilkovic and his conspirators created over 20 different online crypto and investing platform names. The scheme was able to milk approximately $70 million from investors around the world which investigators claim was used for personal expenses of the defendants and to further the scheme. Stojilkovic and the co-defendants could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
As a former trial attorney for the DOJ, Micheal Padula has extensive knowledge and expertise on matters regarding embezzlement and securities fraud allegations. Call (305) 455-5206 to schedule a consultation.
