Siblings face fraud charges for by alleged ‘Ormeus Coin’ crypto scheme
from the Department of Justice, John Barksdale misrepresented that Ormeus Coin secured a $250 million mining operation and accrued more than $5 million in revenue each month, despite the coin never approaching such value.
“As alleged, John Barksdale perpetrated a scheme to sell the cryptocurrency Ormeus Coin to investors around the world through a web of lies, which he spread through in-person roadshows, social media and even a jumbotron in Times Square,” U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a press release. The alleged crimes occurred starting in June 2017, with Ormeus Coin reaching its peak market capitalization of $52 million at around January 2018. The Barksdales allegedly defrauded investors for more than $124 million through Ormeus Coin, aThe Barksdales face up to a maximum sentence of 20 years for each charge of securities fraud, wire fraud, with a maximum of five years for conspiracy to commit securities fraud.