Florida Crypto Scam Trader of EmpiresX Pleads Guilty of Defrauding

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud with a crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of about USD 100m. The man, identified as the 28-year-old Joshua David Nicholas, was working as “Head Trader” at the purported crypto platform EmpiresX, which he and others had “fraudulently promoted,” according to a press release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ)The fraudulent promotion included, among other things, promises of guaranteed returns with the help of what they called a proprietary trading bot.“Nicholas and his co-conspirators claimed that EmpiresX operated a trading bot that used artificial and human intelligence to maximize profitability for investors. Instead, EmpiresX operated a Ponzi scheme by paying earlier investors with money obt