12 MIN AGO
By William Suberg
Bitcoin Store $5 Mln Fraud ‘Operator’ Haddow Falls to Police in Morocco
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“Clandestine” businessman Renwick Haddow is in police custody as the US moves to arrest another Bitcoin bad actor.
Multiple sources including the UK’s Daily Mail report that Haddow, who allegedly conned investors out of $5 mln via a fake exchange platform, was found in the Moroccan capital Tangiers.
“Haddow created two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly-qualified executives were leading them to quick profitability,” the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commented after charging Haddow last month with securities fraud.
The British-born New York resident is said to have tricked investors who contributed funds to his Bitcoin Store platform and other ventures, diverting funds to offshore accounts.
"In reality, Haddow controlled the companies from behind the scenes and they were far from profitable,” the SEC’s New York Regional Office director Andrew M. Calamari added.
Cointelegraph previously reported on Haddow’s original arrest earlier this month, and Moroccan authorities are now set to consider his extradition.
It is a second high-profile Bitcoin case to surface involving the SEC this week, with the regulator also seeking $110 mln in anti-money laundering fines against Russian exchange BTC-e.
Its assumed founder, Alexander Vinnik, is also under pressure to pay a personal fine of $12 mln.