Founders of ICO Endorsed By Floyd Mayweather Indicted for Fraud

The co-founders of Centra Tech: Raymond, Trapani, Sohrab Sharma and Robert Farkas of Cetra Tech have been accused of planning to defraud investors through the company’s token sale and are currently under trial by a grand jury, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which was earlier announced this Monday.

According to the U.S. attorney Robert Khuzami, authorities recovered more than $60 million in funds from the co-founders and are being charged with counts of conspiracy and the commission of securities and wire fraud.

Centra reportedly offered “cryptocurrency-related financial products,” and its founders allegedly created “a scheme to induce victims to invest millions of dollars’ worth of digital funds for the purpose of unregistered securities,” according to the release.

But according to the release, the three withheld vital information including claims about its ties to payments companies.

The company’s token sale was endorsed by heavyweight boxer Floyd Mayweather, claimed to have developed partnerships with Visa and Mastercard to create financial products. The SEC says that these partnerships never existed.

The charges were first revealed earlier this year when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed charged Sharma and Farkas with fraud, as previously reported. The Department of Justice later produced criminal charges of its own against all three co-founders. They will remain in custody for further details from the court.