Israeli cryptocurrency investor and prominent businessman Moshe Hogeg is reportedly facing charges for his alleged involvement in a $290 million scam.
Over the past two years, Hogeg has been under investigation by Israeli police for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors through several proposed crypto businesses.
Hogeg involved in crypto scam
Prior to entering the crypto industry, Moshe Hogeg was a well-known entrepreneur with several businesses, including the media-sharing site Mobil, which attracted investments from celebrities such as tennis player Serena Williams and film actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Hogeg, the former owner of Jerusalem Beitar football club, began his digital asset journey in 2017 by launching blockchain consultancy firm Alignment Blockchain Hub.
Over the next few years, Moshe Hogeg launched three other crypto startups, Sirin Labs, Stx Technologies, and Leadcoin, raising more than $250 million from investors through initial coin offerings (ICOs).
However, according to an Israeli police investigation, Hogeg and his business partners appear to have misappropriated the funds for personal use and gratification rather than investing in the aforementioned crypto startups.
The charges came after police interviewed 180 witnesses, seized 900 pieces of evidence and seized the suspects’ funds and property.
Moshe Hogeg and seven others were initially arrested on fraud and theft charges in 2021. However, a month later, the investor was released under house arrest after posting $22 million bail.
Two years later, Israeli police appear to have concluded their investigation, charging Moshe Hogeg with theft, aggravated fraud, money laundering, forgery, failure to register company documents and tax violations.
The businessman has also been charged with sexual crimes and repeated violations of women's privacy. Police have now handed over all the evidence to Israeli prosecutors, who will review it and decide whether to carry out the charges.
Are investment scams still a problem in the cryptocurrency space?
Investment scams have become one of the major problems in the cryptocurrency space in recent years. According to a report from TRM Labs, investors lost more than $9 billion to scams and fraud in 2022.
In March 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its annual Internet Crime Report, claiming that online fraud losses in 2022 were estimated to reach $10 billion.
According to the FBI, fraudulent investment schemes caused losses of approximately $3.31 billion in 2022. Cryptocurrency investment scams accounted for 77.6% of this, soaring from $907 million in 2021 to $2.57 billion in 2022, an increase of more than 183%.
Total cryptocurrency market cap is $1.043 trillion on the weekly chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com
