On September 21, according to a statement released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Vince Chhabria ordered 30-year-old William Koo Ichioka to pay $31 million to victims and a $5 million civil penalty.
The CFTC charged Ichioka in June 2023 with misappropriating funds in a scam involving cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin and Ethereum) and forex trading. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges against him as part of a parallel action.
Ichioka, who described himself as someone who “started pursuing wealth at an early age and has accumulated millions of dollars in wealth,” told investors that they could earn a 10% return every 30 business days by participating in his commodity liquidity pool, according to the court ruling.
Ichioka did use some of the investor funds to invest in startup stocks, digital asset commodities and foreign exchange trading, but he also "mixed participants' funds with his own funds" and used the money to pay for other expenses such as rent, restaurants, bars, taxis, gym memberships and luxury cars.
