The ARDC has filed a complaint against an Illinois attorney accusing him of a criminal act, wrongfully soliciting investors to invest in bitcoin. The complaint does not allege an attorney-client relationship. The Complaint alleges that the lawyer was charged with wire fraud and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United States Attorney. This may be the first bitcoin prosecution in by the ARDC. As is typical with bitcoin prosecutions, the following allegation appears in the complaint:

2024 PR 00039.

Respondent pooled his investor-victims’ funds and did not segregate their funds from his own when engaging in trading on their behalf. Respondent did not maintain an accounting system that adequately tracked either receipt of funds from his investor-victims or the performance of his investments on behalf of the investor-victims individually. At the time Respondent engaged in this conduct, he was not licensed with any state or federal authority as an investment advisor or commodity pool operator.