A federal judge in New York has ordered Eddy Alexandre, founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency and forex platform EminiFX, to pay over $228 million in restitution to tens of thousands of investors. This comes after relevant authorities discovered that EminiFX was operating as a Ponzi scheme, resulting in significant financial losses to those involved.
In response to this action, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suggested a summary judgment against Alexandre and EminiFX. Luckily, a US District Judge, Valerie Caproni, approved the summary judgment. In a court filing, Caproni highlighted that Alexandre and EminiFX were jointly responsible for paying more than $228 million to compensate those affected and an extra $15 million in disgorgement.
“Both Alexandre and EminiFX must collectively pay a total of $228,576,962 in restitution, while Alexandre must pay a total of $15,049,500 as disgorgement,” the court decided. This decision was made over three years after Alexandre was subjected to his preliminary charges and over a year after confessing wrongdoing in a similar legal case.
Alexandre misleads investors to fulfill his selfish desires
EminiFX commenced its operations in 2021. In just eight months, the company attracted more than 25,000 investors. This increased its accumulation capacity to over $262 million. The company claimed it could provide weekly returns between 5% and 9.99% through a “Robo-Advisor Assisted Account,” which supposedly used automated trading strategies for crypto and forex markets.
However, a court document disagreed with the above claims, backing this reaction with reliable data that exposed the actual status of the platform. Based on the information from the released data, EminiFX was experiencing net losses of approximately $49 million. Apart from this, it was made known that the platform never used the technology it fostered.
Investigators also discovered that Alexandre used around $15 million of the invested funds for his own personal benefits. This included purchasing luxury cars, paying his credit card bills, and making cash withdrawals. When disbursing money to investors, he used funds from new participants.
Losses encountered from crypto fraud cases increase tension among crypto investors
Following Alexandre’s fraudulent financial scam, legal actions were taken against him. In May 2022, he faced similar actions from prosecutors and the CFTC. During the criminal case, he admitted to having committed commodities fraud. To serve as an example to those with intentions similar to his, Alexandre received a nine-year prison sentence and a fine of $213 million.
Judge Valerie Caproni ended the case with a ruling that included extra requirements for restitution and disgorgement. However, the Court’s ruling stated that any payment Alexandre makes for restitution will reduce the money he is supposed to pay back for his disgorgement obligation.
Following this scenario, CertiK, the largest blockchain security auditor, highlighted that in the first half of 2025, losses from crypto scams, hacks, and exploits amounted to $2.47 billion.
Compared to the year’s first quarter, the crypto ecosystem encountered 800 million lost over 144 incidents in the second quarter. This resulted in a 52% decline in value, as there are 59 fewer hacks. Tension has also been sparked among crypto investors as these losses have increased by 3% compared to last year.
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