CFTC Secures Over $25 Million Default Judgment in My Big Coin Crypto Fraud Case

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered a final default judgment against Mark Gillespie of Michigan, John Roche of California, and two Nevada entities, My Big Coin Pay, Inc. and My Big Coin, Inc., ordering them to pay more than $25 million in penalties and restitution. Under the court order, the defendants are jointly and severally liable for a $19,326,324 civil monetary penalty and $6,442,108 in restitution to defrauded investors. The court also imposed permanent bans prohibiting Gillespie, Roche, and the two corporate entities from registering with the CFTC, trading in CFTC-regulated markets, or engaging in transactions involving commodity interests and digital asset commodities. According to the default order, the defendants worked alongside co-defendant Randall Crater from at least January 2014 through June 2017 to operate a fraudulent digital asset scheme. The group solicited over $6 million from at least 28 customers by fraudulently marketing a virtual currency named My Big Coin (MBC). Solicitations contained false and misleading claims about MBC's value, usage, and trading status, including deceptive claims that the virtual token was backed by gold. Crater misappropriated virtually all customer funds. The enforcement action against another named co-defendant, Michael Kruger, was previously dismissed following his death. Crater was earlier sentenced to 100 months in prison following a parallel criminal action in which he was convicted of wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and was ordered to pay over $7.6 million in restitution and forfeiture. The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the FBI, while cautioning that restitution orders may not guarantee the full recovery of lost funds if wrongdoers lack sufficient assets.