Seven people in Yunnan Province were convicted of pyramid scheme crimes for building an online platform to issue virtual currency

Comparative news, according to the Yunnan Legal Daily, in February 2023, the seven defendants jointly discussed setting up an online platform to invest in virtual currency. After reaching an agreement, a company in Sichuan was contacted, and technicians developed a “3M platform” to issue the token “Mavrocoin” to lure investors to join the project in a way that investing in virtual currency can be highly profitable. After the platform was completed and put into operation, the seven defendants actively promoted that the investment platform could be highly profitable, and went offline to promote development and offline. It has been determined that the number of offline users is at least 3 levels (including 3 levels), and the cumulative number of offline users is 30 or more (including 30), a total of 375 users. The seven defendants each received profits ranging from 4,300 yuan to 20,000 yuan.

After a trial, the Xichou County People's Court found that the seven defendants used the “3M platform” to issue virtual currency, lured investors to join the platform by investing in virtual currency and formed hierarchies in a certain order. The number of development personnel was used as a reward for profit. Their actions constituted a crime of organizing and leading pyramid scheme activities. According to sentencing circumstances such as the role played in the crime, level of development, guilty plea and punishment, and refund of stolen money, etc., they were each sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, suspended sentences, and fines.