Two men — Michael Shannon Sims (48 years old) and Juan Carlos Reynoso (57 years old) — are under investigation in the United States on suspicion of organizing a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud scheme. According to the investigation, the losses from their activities reached $650 million, and thousands of investors worldwide lost their funds.
This is reported by Finway
Fraud Scheme Through the OmegaPro Platform
The accused created the OmegaPro platform, which was marketed as an international investment project. Users were offered to purchase investment packages with a promise of up to 300% profit within 16 months. Funding was conducted in cryptocurrencies, and the funds primarily went to personal wallets controlled by the project’s organizers.
Sims was the public face of the company, claiming professionalism of the team, high returns, and reliability of the investments. Reynoso was responsible for OmegaPro’s operations in Latin America and parts of the United States, including Puerto Rico. He spread false information about the company having licenses and claimed that the platform was not subject to the laws of any state.
The marketing campaign for OmegaPro was accompanied by large-scale events, showcasing the logo on the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, as well as social media posts featuring photos of luxury cars and vacations. After the scheme collapsed, the owners promised to return assets through another project — Broker Group, but investors were unable to retrieve their funds from either platform. The assets were transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the leaders of OmegaPro.
Potential Punishment and Investigation Progress
According to the charges, both men are suspected of conspiracy to commit fraud through electronic means and money laundering. If found guilty, each faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of the indictment.
“The statement notes that Sims acted as the public face of the company — he claimed high returns, professionalism of the team, and reliability of the project.”
It was previously reported that law enforcement in Spain also uncovered a large-scale fraudulent scheme involving cryptocurrencies, which caused losses exceeding €460 million and affected thousands of victims.