Amir Burno Elmaani, the CEO of the failed crypto project Oyster Protocol, has been nabbed by law enforcement and charged with tax evasion.
The CEO didn't report earnings to the IRS and also filed a fake tax return. Despite claiming a tax return that brought in $15k in 2018, his return didn't claim any income.
Major Updates
- Elmaani was charged by the SEC and arrested on the same day
- The CEO made millions of dollars from Oyster ICO
- Elmaani spent over 10 million dollars on Yacht, gold, and houses
The FBI director added that he still spent $10M purchasing a yacht despite this minimal income.
The FBI arrested Elmaani on the 9th after the Department of Justice released an indictment charging him for evading tax. The indictment also revealed other civil charges filed by SEC.
The DoJ alleges that he became a millionaire from selling the Oyster Pearl tokens but failed to report his earnings and tried to launder the money.
Elmaani started an independent ICO that isn't linked to him but made it known that some of the founder's share will be his.
He made a claim in mid-2018 that millions of the token will be retained by him, and he won't like to be double taxed, so it has to be in wallets within his control.
Elmaani received cryptocurrency proceeds by using his friends and family as nominees before converting them to US dollars.
Another allegation is that the CEO mined some Peal tokens after he claimed October 2018 was the product supply fix date. Exchanges that traded the coin delisted it, leading to a massive loss for the investors.
What should be the punishment for Elmaani? Share your thoughts in the comment.
