Amir Burno Elmaani, the founder of Oyster Protocol has been arrested and charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for a “multimillion-dollar tax evasion scheme.
Elmaani, 28-year-old, who is also known as “Bruno Block,” was arrested on December 9 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The notice went on to state that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also filing civil charges against the founder of Oyster Protocol.
Elmaani is charged with two counts of tax evasion, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Amir Bruno Elmaani purported to establish a high-tech method of financing a high-tech business, but the underlying scheme was old-fashioned fraud and tax evasion. Elmaani allegedly generated millions by soliciting investor money through his own cryptocurrency, adding to the purportedly fixed number of tokens and converting them to other cryptocurrencies, and failing to report or pay tax on any of the proceeds.”
Back In May 2018, Oyster Protoco said the Protocol has reached a beta milestone of 1 million transactions of encrypted data via its new decentralized storage and encryption service, Oyster Shell, amidst several high-profile data hacks on companies such as Facebook and Dropbox, which rely on email and passwords for security.
“Companies like Facebook and Dropbox offer convenient tools, but they have no regard for the privacy of users’ data,” said Bruno Block, CEO of Oyster. “By using the highest level of cryptographic encryption, Oyster puts you in control of your data. With no logins, no passwords, and no email addresses, Oyster ensures that you can’t be hacked and your data can’t be seen by prying eyes.”
As a result of Elmaani’s conduct, exchanges have delisted and halted the trading of Pearl tokens with the price of Pearl tokens dropping substantially which have caused significant losses to investors.
Read more:
- Jose Angel Aman, Co-Founder Of Argyle Coin Was Sentenced To 7 Years In The US
- A Series Of Vietnamese Artists’ YouTube Channels Were Hacked To Livestream Bitcoin Giveaway