The United States Department of Justice announced that Juan Tacuri — a senior promoter of the Forcount Ponzi scheme, which was later rebranded to Weltsys — was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Oct. 15.
According to an announcement from the Southern District of New York, Tacuri was also ordered to pay $3,610,718 in restitution and sentenced to one year of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Prosecutors said that Tacuris fraudulent scheme targeted victims all around the world, but mainly Spanish-speaking communities.
The 240-month sentence handed down by Judge Analisa Torres represents the maximum statutory sentence. Following the decision, United States Attorney Damian Williams remarked:“Juan Tacuri may have claimed to be involved in cutting-edge cryptocurrency investing, but, in reality, he was running one of the oldest tricks in the book — a Ponzi Scheme.”
The prosecutor concluded by saying the maximum sentence imposed by Judge Torres was a “Stark reminder that, in the long run, fraud does not pay.”
The details of the Forcount Ponzi
According to the Department of Justice, the founders and promoters of Forcount told prospective clients that the fictitious firm was a crypto mining and trading company. Tacuri and others lured in victims with the promise of regular payouts from Forcounts purported operations.
Prosecutors said that Tacuri and others hosted “lavish events” across the United States to generate interest for the investment products, which promised to double investor capital in six months. However, there was no product, and the promoters were spending the money stolen from unsuspecting victims on luxury goods and real estate.
The legal filings revealed that customers reported having withdrawal issues as early as 2018 and that the perpetrators of the scam stopped responding to customer complaints altogether in 2021. In 2022, US prosecutors unsealed charges against Francisley da Silva — the founder of Forcount.
In June 2024, Tacuri pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy, and in July, Antonia Perez Hernandez and Nestor Nunez, who were also promoters of the Forcount scheme, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy.