Travis Ford, co-founder and head trader of Wolf Capital, has pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy after orchestrating a scheme that defrauded investors out of $9.4 million.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the plea on January 10, highlighting Ford’s role in deceiving approximately 2,800 investors with promises of unrealistically high returns.
Ford marketed himself as a “sophisticated investor” capable of delivering daily returns of 1-2%, amounting to an astonishing 547% annually.
Ford Lured Investors Using Wolf Capital’s Website
Ford used Wolf Capital’s website, social media, and other online platforms to lure investors between January and August 2023.
However, instead of utilizing the funds as promised, Ford redirected the money for personal gain, enriching himself and his co-conspirators.
The DOJ stated that Ford “misappropriated and diverted investor funds to benefit himself and his co-conspirators, to the financial detriment of investors.”
Ford later admitted that the promised returns were unrealistic and could not be consistently achieved.
Ford’s guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
This case is part of a broader crackdown on fraudulent crypto schemes.
On January 5, Vietnamese authorities arrested four individuals accused of running a crypto mining scam that defrauded over 200 victims of nearly $157,300.
Similarly, police in Springfield, Massachusetts, issued warnings about a surge in crypto-related scams, particularly those involving cryptocurrency ATMs.
Crypto Industry Lost $1.49B to Hacks and Fraud in 2024
As reported, the crypto industry witnessed losses totaling $1.49 billion in 2024 due to hacks and fraud, marking a 17% decrease from 2023.
According to a report by blockchain security platform Immunefi, hacks were overwhelmingly the primary cause, accounting for $1.47 billion or 98.1% of the total losses across 192 incidents.
Fraud, including rug pulls and scams, represented just 1.9% of the losses at $28 million, though this category saw a 72% increase year-on-year.
The decline in total crypto losses reflects improved security measures, as the number of successful attacks also fell by 27.5%, from 320 in 2023 to 232 in 2024.
Japan’s DMM Bitcoin exchange suffered a $305 million private key breach in May, while WazirX, India’s top crypto exchange, lost $235 million in July after hackers compromised its Ethereum-based multisig wallet.
Together, these two events accounted for 36% of the total losses.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols remained prime targets, representing 51.4% of the losses, while centralized finance (CeFi) platforms accounted for 48.6%.
Notably, CeFi losses surged by 77.5% year-on-year, reaching $726 million.
Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain were the most attacked blockchains, with Ethereum facing 104 incidents that led to 44% of total chain losses.
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