Federal regulators have accused a Portland man of a $44 million cryptocurrency investment scam. Recently, Forbes magazine has reported the decrease in crypto values in a host of cryptocurrencies. Sam Ikkurty used YouTube videos and a marketing website for him and a partner to collect that $44 million from 170 investors. This happened in just over a year and a half.
They two “misappropriated most or all of the participant funds,” the Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleged last Thursday. His partner’s name is Ravishankar Avadhanam. He is from Aurora, Illinois. They told investors one thing but did another. They were supposed to invest the funds in cryptocurrency and other commodities.
They allegedly took some of the money for themselves and used the rest to pay off prior investors. This is a classic “Ponzi-like scheme,” the agency said in the lawsuit. The commission got a restraining order to shut down Ikkurty’s companies. A federal judge in Illinois froze the companies’ assets and appointed a receiver to take charge of what’s left. The commission seeks to force the pair to give up any investors’ funds they might still control.
The information stated that Ikkurty often went by another name and he had multiple companies. Those companies include Jafia LLC and Ikkurty Capital, which did business as the Rose City Income Fund and Seneca Ventures LLC.
Ikkurty identifies himself on his LinkedIn social media page as managing partner of Rose City Income Fund. He states on the platform that he worked as a software developer before he founded his investment companies in 2017.
