Source: Cointelegraph Original: "{title}"
The cryptocurrency platform Debiex has been ordered to pay approximately $2.5 million for failing to respond to a lawsuit from the CFTC. The lawsuit alleges that Debiex is part of a "pig butchering" scam.
Federal Judge Douglas Rayes of Arizona approved the CFTC's earlier motion for summary judgment on March 13, ruling that Debiex must return approximately $2.26 million it stole from customers, along with nearly $221,500 in civil penalties.
Judge Rayes stated that there was no evidence to suggest that Debiex's failure to respond to the CFTC was due to "excusable neglect."
The CFTC filed a lawsuit against Debiex in January 2024, claiming that its employees executed a so-called "pig butchering" scam, establishing romantic relationships with victims through social media to gain their trust and persuade them to invest in the platform.
According to the CFTC, the scam deceived five victims who deposited approximately $2.3 million into Debiex, which then stole all the funds.
Key excerpts from Judge Rayes' order summarize the CFTC's case against Debiex, source: CourtListener
The CFTC also accused Zhang Chengyang of acting as a "money mule" for Debiex, with his cryptocurrency wallet being used to receive and steal victims' funds.
On March 12, Judge Rayes approved the CFTC's motion for a default judgment against Zhang Chengyang, finding that the CFTC sufficiently alleged that he controlled a cryptocurrency wallet on the OKX platform, which received digital assets that he had no legal right to own.
The judge noted that OKX "voluntarily froze" the cryptocurrency in Zhang Chengyang's account and ordered the transfer of the assets in his account—including $5.70 worth of Tether (USDT) and approximately $119,500 worth of Ethereum (ETH), nearly 63 coins—to an unnamed victim.
In the CFTC's January 2024 complaint, it stated that Debiex's scam was orchestrated by its unknown operators who targeted potential victims through social media, luring them to visit websites they created. These websites claimed to be a "decentralized perpetual contract trading platform on the blockchain network," where users could engage in futures trading and "mining transactions."
The CFTC indicated that Debiex's employees posed as women, establishing relationships with victims through "ongoing and repeated messaging and sharing so-called personal photos," while claiming to be "very successful digital asset commodity traders."
The CFTC added that once victims created accounts and sent cryptocurrency, Debiex would provide "false information" about customer balances, trading positions, and profits.
The CFTC stated: "All of this information is highly likely to be fabricated, with evidence showing that customers' digital assets were directly sent to multiple digital asset wallets in an attempt to conceal their ultimate destination."
Related: Lazarus Group sends 400 ETH to Tornado Cash, deploys new malware
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