The United States government has announced that about $400 million in assets will be made available to compensate victims of AirBit Club, a fraudulent pyramid scheme disguised as a virtual currency mining and trading company. 

“Last week, the Department of Justice announced the launch of the remission compensation process to provide recovery to victims of AirBit Club, a purported virtual currency mining and trading company that was a pyramid scheme,” the Department of Justice said in a statement on Monday. 

The announcement followed the sentencing of five suspects, including the AirBit co-founders Pablo Renato Rodriguez and Gutemberg Dos Santos, as well as Cecilia Millan, Karina Chairez, and attorney Scott Hughes, in 2023, following their arrest three years earlier.

According to the justice department, the convicts promoted AirBit Club as a multilevel marketing club with the promise that members were guaranteed passive, daily returns on virtual currency mining and trading.

To gain traction, authorities alleged that they also sponsored lavish exhibitions and presentations in small communities, which were aimed at convincing people to purchase AirBit Club’s membership. 

However, while victims saw “profits” accumulate on their online portal, those representations were false; no virtual currency mining or trading took place, and the group accumulated millions of dollars in illicit funds in the process.

During their sentencing in 2023, the court also ordered the forfeiture of all proceeds realised from the scheme, including substantial amounts of virtual currency, and the government has recovered $400 million in properties since then, which are now available for payment to victims as restitution. 

“To date, the United States has forfeited over $400 million in assets, which are now available to compensate eligible victims for their compensable losses. Any victims who have previously provided their information to the FBI or U.S. Attorney’s Office will be contacted by the remission administrator, RCB Fund Services, LLC (RCB), to file a petition,” the Justice Department noted. 

Reacting to the development, Tysen Duva, the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said the convicts exploited technology to defraud hardworking Americans.

“The Department will vigorously pursue those who abuse new technologies to steal millions from hard-working individuals. The defendants took advantage of virtual currency’s popularity to promote the scheme and recruit additional victims. 

“The criminal convictions and substantial asset recoveries obtained by prosecutors and law enforcement partners have enabled the Department to successfully launch this significant victim compensation effort,” Mr Duva said.