BlockBeats news, October 11, according to CNBC, a German man was accused of being responsible for a $150 million cryptocurrency fraud case and received a $5 million home confinement in New York City. The guarantors were his partner and children, but now he has become a fugitive.
"There is a very active investigation going on to catch him," John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, said Friday. The defendant, Horst Jicha, failed to appear at a scheduled court date in Brooklyn federal court.
Marzulli added: "We will forfeit the bail," meaning prosecutors will seek a $4 million bail personally guaranteed by Jicha's partner, children and three other people living in Germany.
An additional $1 million in cash has been deposited into a U.S. federal government account as security for bail.
Jicha is suspected of tampering with his ankle monitor on Oct. 3, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn told the judge during a hearing Thursday that was supposed to be for pretrial issues in the case.
After noticing Jicha's ankle monitor wasn't working, pretrial services officers emailed him and asked him to come to their offices the next day. Jicha didn't show up, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Orelia Merchant.
