Rapper TI named in federal investigation of cryptocurrency fraud
An Atlanta film producer has been indicted on federal charges connected to a cryptocurrency investment scheme. He’s accused of raising millions from investors and spending the money on personal items and using several others including Atlanta rapper T.I. to help promote his business.
The U.S. Attorneys office says Ryan Felton misled investors
who thought they were funding an entertainment streaming platform and a new
cryptocurrency.
Prosecutors say Felton instead used that money for personal
use including a $1.5 million home, and a 2007 Ferrari that he paid $180,000
cash for.
Felton also posed as a potential investor using fake names
on internet forums and social media to build excitement for his business and
after the initial coin offering he sold thousands of coins on secondary
crypto-markets to artificially inflate prices, prosecutors say.
A separate Securities and Exchange Commission investigation
found rapper/actor Clifford Harris Jr., also known as T.I., promoted Felton’s
unregistered and fraudulent coin offerings.
The SEC found Harris offered and sold tokens on his social
media accounts and made false claims about being a co-owner of Felton’s company
and encouraged his followers to invest.
Harris, his social media manager William Sparks Jr., and two
Atlanta residents, Chance White and Owen Smith, promoted the tokens without
disclosing they received compensation in return, the report says.
The SEC complaint against Harris and the others is not
criminal but does carry penalties. Harris is required to pay $75,000 in a civil
penalty and he is not to participate in the sale of digital-asset securities
for the next five years.
The case against Felton is criminal and is now being
investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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