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- Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced a ban on BitConnect representative John Louis Anthony Bigatton from delivering any kind of financial services for seven years
- BitConnect was a cryptocurrency Ponzi investment scheme which purportedly conned investors out of $2.6 billion
- The announcement from the regulator says that Bigatton was providing illegal financial product advice and deceptive financial
On September 3, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced a ban on the former National Representative of BitConnect cryptocurrency investment scheme, John Louis Anthony Bigatton, from delivering any kind of financial services for seven years.
BitConnect was an online cryptocurrency platform that operated BitConnect Lending Platform, a cryptocurrency Ponzi investment scheme that purportedly conned investors out of $2.6 billion ($3.7 billion).
Post the platform’s collapse, several Australians lost their hard-earned money approximately worth $4 billion. From August 2017 till January 18, Bigatton was the Australian National Representative.
Interestingly, Bigatton has been referred by many as a sharp salesman for his efforts in luring Australian consumers into his scam. Following BitConnect’s collapse, ASIC has been investigating the frontman.
The announcement from the regulator says that Bigatton was providing illegal financial product advice and deceptive financial services and solutions during his tenure as the Australian National Representative of BitConnect.
Investigations by Australian authorities revealed that Bigatton is not professionally eligible to provide financial services, and hence its unauthorized activities are liable to legal actions.
Last year, the Federal Court of Australia placed travel bans and freezing orders on Bigatton on ASIC’s request, which is currently probing into his business affairs.
The ban announced today by the agency can be appealed by Bigatton at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
BitConnect’s lending platform was shut down in January of 2018, as Finance Magnates reported. This came closely on the heels of Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J Iles’s serving BitConnect with a cease and desist order on January 4, 2018. Since BitConnect was officially based out of the UK, the order could do little except stopping the company from dealing directly with Texan residents.
Around the beginning of last year, the Federal Court of Australia has imposed a travel ban and frozen the funds of John Bigatton. BitConnect proposed investors a fast way to become rich fast, and it allowed individuals to earn an interesting return on their investments. Several investors had filed a lawsuit against Bitconnect, demanding a compensation post its shutdown on the basis of the operations allegedly being a Ponzi scheme and the cryptocurrency tokens being unregistered securities.
