Bitcoin Daily: Court Orders Circle Society, Corp. And Founder To Pay $32 Million Over Crypto Fraud; Chinese Blockchain Firm Exec Accused Of Embezzling $45 Million; Bitcoin Rises To $61,000

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a judgment against a Ponzi scheme operator, David Gilbert Saffron, and a Nevada corporation, Circle Society, a press release says, to pay together the amount of $14,841,280 to defrauded pool participants, disgorgement of $15,815,967, and a civil monetary penalty of $1,484,128.

The judgment will also permanently enjoin those defendants from violating the rules of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, registering with the CFTC, trading in any CFTC-regulated markets, and trading in any commodity interest for himself or others, the release notes.

In the case, Saffron and Circle Society reportedly fraudulently solicited at least $15 million in bitcoin from 179 individuals to trade off-exchange binary options on foreign currencies, which were misappropriated and not used for what the people paid for, the release says.

Gao Ziyang, the chief marketing officer of blockchain firm Beosin, has been accused of misappropriating $45 million in state-owned bitcoins by Chinese authorities, CoinDesk reports.

The funds in question were in the care of the company following a seizure by police from a separate incident.

Beosin has been accused of holding and converting the bitcoin to fiat on behalf of the Chinese treasury, where Gao had access. But instead of trying to sell the funds, he was accused of trying to short the bitcoin last August through using excessive leverage.

Bitcoin has again hit a price of over $60,000 this weekend, which broke it from a two-week tighter range, Reuters writes.

The new gains, hitting $61,222.22, were spurred on by talk of constrained new supplies, against evidence of wider adoption.

The price of bitcoin was slightly lower on Sunday (April 11), hitting $59,907.

Justin d’Anethan, sales manager at digital asset company Diginex in Hong Kong, said the investors had been looking at the stock market and other cryptos as of late, but the rise above $60,000 had changed that.

The rise came from a slew of things, including miners not selling newly-minted coins, on-exchange reserves hitting new lows, and a new flux of corporates, investors and funds pouring in.