According to a press release from the UK authorities, a high court in the country has shut down well-known cryptocurrency trading company PGI Global UK due to the firm’s alleged involvement in a scam.
The U.K.-based company was stated to have gathered roughly $710,000 from its possible investors throughout July 2020 and February 2021. It assured these investors that their investments in the firm would provide returns of around 200%. When PGI broke its promise, it barred its investors from withdrawing their funds.
Three accounts managed by the company that collected the payments were discovered following the investigations. This led to the discovery that PGI had allegedly siphoned off around £200,000 by paying at least £195,000 to individual accounts and £10,000 to a high-end retailer.
Ramil Ventura Palafox, the one and only director of the firm, is accused by the court of refusing to assist with inquiries into the charges.
Chief investigator for the Insolvency Service Mark George also noted that, in order to benefit from limited liability protections, both corporations and people must adhere to the Companies Act.
PGI Global UK is a division of the US-based Praetorian Group International Trading. After obtaining a seizure warrant from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the US Department of Justice closed down the business.
In 2021, illicit addresses received $14 billion, up from $7.8 billion in 2020, indicating that cryptocurrency-based criminality reached an all-time high — according to a Chainalysis report.
On the other hand, according to a different report from Intelligent CIO, illegal cryptocurrency volumes have decreased 15% year over year in 2022 as a result of a drop in crypto-criminal activity.
