CFTC slams Circle Society with an $11 million charge for a Bitcoin-related fraud

• America can only succeed in the digital space if markets have integrity according to CFTC’s chairman Tarbert.
• The principle of Circle Society lured investors on social media by promising good returns after trading various binary options.

The Circle Society, an organization that is said to be carrying out fraudulent crypto-binaries activities has found itself in trouble with a United Stated regulator. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) put an $11 million charge on the principle of Circle Society.

David Gilbert Saffron of Las Vegas, Nevada, utilized social media channels to trick investors into putting Bitcoin and even US dollars into a pool who fund was to channel into trading products such as binary options.

Apparently the investment scheme has been running since December 2017. The CFTC only uncovered its existence in September 2019. The Circle Society was not registered with any of the regulators in the US. Moreover, it failed to connect investors with any legitimate exchange platform.

While the regulators Saffron to pay penalties and face a permanent injunction, the possibility of of  investors recovering their investments is narrow.

A comment by the Chairman of CFTC, Heath Tarbert regarding crypto-related fraud says:

“Digital assets and other 21st century commodities hold great promise for our economy. Fraudulent schemes, like that alleged in this case, not only cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned money, but they threaten to undermine the responsible development of these new and innovative markets.   America must be a leader in this space, and we will only succeed if these markets have integrity.”