A U.S. federal court has ordered William “Ku” Ichioka to pay $31 million in restitution and a $5 million fine. The New York resident was charged with defrauding victims in a forex and cryptocurrency fraud scheme and ordered to pay a total of $36 million.
A New York man will pay $36 million for defrauding victims in a forex and cryptocurrency fraud scheme.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced in a September 20 press release that former San Francisco resident William Koo Ichioka will pay $31 million in restitution to victims of the fraud scheme and a $5 million civil penalty.
The fine was imposed in a September 19 order by Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The CFTC filed charges against Ichioka in June 2023.
The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action against Ichioka in June 2023. The charges include fraudulently soliciting and stealing more than $21 million from more than 100 commodity pool participants. Ichioka pleaded guilty to the charges and consented to the judgment.
The charges against Ichioka related to a 2018 scheme in which he lied to participants in an investment fund without knowing anything about it.
The individual claimed that investors would receive a 10% return every 30 days, but this never happened and Ichioka used his own money to steal funds from his victims and spend them on personal expenses such as rent, jewelry and luxury cars.
“To conceal his fraudulent activities, Ichioka inflated the value of his holdings by creating false financial statements and providing participants with false account statements,” the CFTC said in a press release.
Parallel criminal cases
Ichioka also pleaded guilty to charges filed by the Department of Justice in June 2023 in parallel with the CFTC charges. The charges included wire fraud, false tax returns, and commodities fraud. For each of the five charges, the court sentenced Ichioka to 48 months in prison.
He was also sentenced to five years probation. The court imposed a $5 million fine and $31,330,715.86 in restitution.
On August 14, 2023, the Court issued a permanent injunction enjoining Ichioka from any future violations. Ichioka is also prohibited from trading on CFTC-regulated markets or registering with any regulatory authority.
According to the CFTC, the order and penalty mark the end of the CFTC's enforcement actions against New York residents.
