PANews reported on February 6 that according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that a U.S. federal court ordered the Brazilian founder of the illegal cryptocurrency investment platform EmpiresX to be fined more than $130 million and paid compensation.

On February 4, U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida imposed a permanent injunction, financial penalties, and other legal actions against EmpiresX founders Emerson Pires, Flavio Goncalves, and their partner Joshua Nicholas. The case was originally filed on June 30, 2022, and a default judgment was ultimately entered because the defendants failed to respond to the charges by the deadline.

According to court documents, Empires Consulting operated a fraudulent investment scheme, EmpiresX, that falsely promised investors high returns. Pires and Goncalves are accused of taking at least $40 million from victims through fake cryptocurrency ads. Instead of investing the funds as promised, the founders misused them to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum while restricting withdrawals and showing false profits from non-existent investments. The EmpireX founders used the funds for personal expenses, including luxury goods and travel. Despite this, investigators recovered approximately $22.8 million in digital currency from them.