Another pastor charged with crypto fraud after setting up marketing scheme worth $5.9M

The year 2024 began and now ends with news that a pastor has been caught in a fraudulent crypto scheme.

This time, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Washington state pastor Francier Obando Pinillo with fraud and misappropriation in a multilevel marketing scheme targeting 1,515 customers, including members of his own Spanish church. The commission claims it was a fraudulent crypto multilevel marketing scheme worth at least $5.9 million.

Per the CFTC, Pinillo was running three fraudulent Solanofi business entities: Solanofi, Solano Partners Ltd., and Solano Capital Investments.

"He abused his position of trust as the church pastor to attract customers and claimed to be the CEO of the Solanofi entities that had an automated computer trading system which he called Solanofi," the CFTC said, adding that Pinillo also claimed to operate a trading platform which paid interest based on the trading of crypto assets.

Moreover, the pastor allegedly promised profits of 34.9% compounded monthly and claimed it was risk-free. Meanwhile, a 15% referral fee was promised to those bringing new clients.

However, the CFTC said it discovered that all these claims and the platform were fake, while Pinillo misappropriated all assets that victims gave him.

"Payments he sent to earlier-in-time customers in the form of sham profits and/or referral payments were actually misappropriated assets of later-in-time customers in the nature of a Ponzi scheme," the Commission added.

The CFTC is now seeking restitution to defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, trading bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.

However, Pinillo is not the first pastor caught in crypto shenanigans. In January this year, Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan charged Eli Regalado – who launched the INDXcoin token – with fraud.