OmegaPro Founders Face Charges Over $650 Million Fraud

The Department of Justice alleges that they ran a multilevel marketing operation that promised up to 300% returns, luring thousands of investors with flashy marketing and false promises. Separately, the US Treasury sanctioned North Korean nationals and Russian entities involved in a deceptive scheme that planted DPRK IT workers inside crypto firms to fund North Korea’s weapons programs. In the high-profile Tornado Cash case, Judge Katherine Failla suggested that she may exclude now-rescinded US sanctions from the trial of developer Roman Storm, though references to North Korea’s use of the platform may still be allowed. US Charges Two in OmegaPro Crypto Scheme The US Department of Justice charged two men in connection with a massive crypto investment scheme that allegedly defrauded investors out of more than $650 million. According to an indictment that was unsealed in a federal court in Puerto Rico, Michael Shannon Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso are accused of operating and promoting OmegaPro, a multilevel marketing venture that promised outsized returns and misled participants worldwide. Press release (Source: US Department of Justice ) The DOJ claims Sims served as a founder and strategic consultant for OmegaPro, while Reynoso allegedly led the company’s Latin American operations. Prosecutors say the pair targeted vulnerable people both in the United States and abroad between 2019 and 2023, by selling so-called “investment packages” that were to be purchased using cryptocurrency. They claimed that these packages would generate returns of up to 300% in just 16 months, supposedly through the efforts of elite foreign exchange traders. Authorities allege that Sims and Reynoso aggressively promoted the scheme with high-profile marketing tactics. These included extravagant promotional events, public displays like projecting OmegaPro’s logo onto Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, and social media posts showcasing luxury lifestyles, exotic vacations, designer items, and expensive cars—all designed to create an illusion of legitimacy and success. The DOJ says this approach lured in thousands of investors, who believed they were buying into a safe and highly profitable venture. OmegaPro logo projected on the Burj Khalifa (Source: LinkedIn ) In January of 2023, OmegaPro announced that it experienced a network hack, but assured clients that their funds were safe and being transferred to another platform known as Broker Group. However, prosecutors say investors were ultimately unable to withdraw their money from either OmegaPro or Broker Group. Instead, the funds were allegedly laundered through various cryptocurrency wallets and funneled to insiders. Both Sims and Reynoso face charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Separately, OmegaPro co-founder Andreas Szakacs was arrested in Turkey in July of 2024 for allegedly scamming investors out of $4 billion through the same firm. US Sanctions North Korea Crypto Infiltrators The US Treasury also recently imposed sanctions on two people and four entities tied to a North Korean scheme that allegedly used fraudulent IT workers to infiltrate crypto companies. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified North Korean national Song Kum Hyok as a central figure in the operation, and accused him of stealing the personal information of US citizens and passing it to foreign-based IT workers who would then use it to apply for jobs at American firms. Russian national Gayk Asatryan was also sanctioned for employing North Korean IT workers through long-term agreements made with DPRK trading firms beginning in 2024. This crackdown happened due to the growing concern over North Korea’s evolving cyber tactics. An April report from Google warned that the infrastructure supporting these operations is spreading globally. OFAC says these efforts are part of a larger initiative by the DPRK to fund its ballistic missile programs by sending thousands of skilled IT workers abroad, primarily to China and Russia. These workers target companies in wealthier countries by using both mainstream and niche networking platforms to secure employment under false identities. All US assets linked to Asatryan, Song, and the four named Russian entities are now frozen. US persons are also banned from conducting any financial or business transactions with them, under threat of civil and criminal penalties. North Korea is traditionally known for orchestrating high-profile cyberattacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, but they appear to be shifting strategies. According to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs , DPRK-affiliated operations are moving away from direct hacks toward deception-based schemes, like IT worker infiltration. TRM Labs estimates that North Korean-linked actors were behind $1.6 billion of the $2.1 billion stolen across 75 crypto-related hacks and exploits in the first half of 2025 . (Source: TRM Labs ) On the other hand, the US has been stepping up efforts to stop these operations. On June 30, four North Koreans were charged with wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly posing as remote workers at blockchain firms in the US and Serbia. Earlier that month, the Department of Justice also announced its plan to seize $7.74 million in crypto assets believed to have been earned by DPRK IT workers using fake identities to work as contractors at blockchain companies. Sanctions May Be Kept Out of Tornado Cash Case Sanction is certainly not a new topic in the world of cryptocurrency. The federal judge presiding over the US criminal trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm suggested that she may prohibit references to the 2022 sanctions against the crypto mixing platform during court proceedings. According to a report from Inner City Press, Judge Katherine Failla of the Southern District of New York expressed her inclination to exclude mention of the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, as they were ultimately withdrawn after a federal ruling in a separate civil case. The sanctions initially added addresses tied to Tornado Cash to the Specially Designated Nationals list in August 2022 but were rescinded by OFAC in March after being legally challenged by users of the platform. Roman Storm Judge Failla explained that referencing the now-defunct sanctions could unfairly imply guilt, and stated that it would suggest Storm had “consciousness of guilt for something he was not ultimately guilty of.” However, the judge indicated she is unlikely to prevent prosecutors from bringing up North Korea and the Lazarus Group hackers, whose use of Tornado Cash for laundering illicit funds has been a key element of the case. Storm was indicted in August of 2023, and he faces charges including money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and conspiracy to violate US sanctions. Failla is expected to rule on admissible witnesses before the trial begins on Monday. The case attracted a lot of attention from the crypto community, and many industry leaders ended up advocating for Storm’s defense by arguing that developers should not be criminalized for writing open-source code. The Ethereum Foundation , Vitalik Buterin, and Paradigm’s Matt Huang are among those who contributed to Storm’s legal defense fund.

Source: Coinpaper