Gem scam
A Southern California man collected about £114.5 million from more than 70,000 investors around the world by promising them profits from amber and gemstones mines that didn’t actually exist and selling them worthless digital coins purportedly backed by the gems.
The man behind it all
A man aged 62 by the name Steve Chen agreed in putting himself forward as guilty after the acts of tax evasion and committing wire fraud. This was talked upon by the U.S attorneys office in Los Angeles.
Chen, also known as “Boss,” was the owner and chief executive officer U.S. Fine Investments Arts Inc., which he told investors owned mines in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Argentina. Investors paid as much as $30,000 for packages that included amber and gemstones at grossly inflated prices and “points” that could be converted in shares of his company when it went public.
The investors
- “Mr. Chen’s promises to investors were as worthless as his non-existent mines and phony digital currency,”