A superseding indictment unsealed yesterday A superseding indictment unsealed yesterday charged Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef with multiple felonies including bank fraud. Although the case makes mention of processing payments for cryptocurrency exchanges, it also helps putting some pieces together on the Crypto Capital story, the payment processor that reportedly had 850 million dollars belonging to Bitfinex seized.
Yesterday, an unsealed indictment revealed that Reginald Fowler, an Arizona resident better known as Reggie Fowler, former co-owner of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, and Ravid Yosef, from Tel Aviv Jerusalem, are indicted by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Reginald Fowler is also indicted for operating an unlicensed money transmission business and the conspiracy to do so.
Their names may not ring a bell to anyone in the cryptocurrency community, but the company mentioned in the indictment document, Global Trading Solutions LLC, may. The company, owned by Reginald Fowler, was described as an agent for Crypto Capital to The Block. As written in the indictment, Fowler and Yosef obtained bank accounts after “falsely represented to those banks that the accounts would be primarily used for real estate investment transactions even though Fowler, Yosef, and others to transmit funds on behalf of an unlicensed money transmitting business related to the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges.”
The others in that quote includes Crypto Capital, or rather the Swiss based Global Trade Solutions AG that runs its operations. From earlier reporting by The Block, we know that one such account was at HSBC, which was used by Crypto Capital to process fiat deposits for Bitfinex. Based on information provided by sources including customers of Bitfinex and Crypto Capital, who spoke to The Block under conditions of anonymity, Global Trading Solutions LLC also had bank accounts at Citibank, Enterprise Bank & Trust and Wells Fargo that were used by Crypto Capital.
The links between Reginald Fowler also go beyond the U.S. border. Fowler (co-)owns the two Portuguese companies through which, as reported earlier by The Block, Crypto Capital processed fiat withdrawals for Bitfinex. However, the activities of the companies, MOGW ENERGY TRADE LDA and Eligibility Criterion Unipessoal LDA, have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies, let alone financial services. According to their registration, their activity lists various consulting and construction services, suggesting the false pretenses to obtain bank accounts were not limited to the U.S. either.
The indictment unsealed yesterday therefore must be seen in the context of the New York Attorney General (NYAG) suing Bitfinex last weekend. There is a near zero percent chance that indictment by the SDNY is not related to or has not sprung from the investigation by the NYAG’s office into Bitfinex and particularly Crypto Capital. Although indictments usually refrain from revealing more information than necessary, the fact that Crypto Capital is referred to as “others” in the indictment likely means there is more to come.
Obtaining bank accounts
As the indictment makes clear, Fowler and Yosef opened numerous bank U.S. accounts under false pretenses. The indictment further presents a list of bank accounts at HSBC, either in name of Global Trading Solutions LLC or directly in name of Fowler, from which the funds were seized by the U.S. government.
The known bank accounts in name of Global Trading Solutions LLC, and used by Crypto Capital, provide further insights into how Fowler went about opening bank accounts and shows how he seemingly went some lengths to not directly associate his name with Global Trading Solutions LLC.
For instance, documents in the public registry instead list Jean Gries, an Arizona-based notary, as the person filing for the company. In other public registry filings however, Jean Gries signs documents on behalf of Mr. Fowler’s businesses. In wire details obtained by The Block, Jean Gries also appears as an approver for fiat withdrawals from Bitfinex, processed by Crypto Capital, in connection to a bank account at Revolut account in the U.K.
As for the bank accounts, the address of the known HSBC bank account matches the address in Chandler, Arizona where Global Trading Solutions LLC is registered. The property at that address, a sports complex, is however owned by another company related to Fowler.
Another bank account, at Wells Fargo, listed an address in Tampa, Florida. That address lists a different company however, called NLE Consulting, where the registry documents list Reginald Fowler as an officer. Crypto Capital used the account for its own customers, but there is no indication that it was used to process any Bitfinex fiat deposits or withdrawals. Fowler used an address in Huntington Beach, California to obtain an account at Citibank. No company is registered at the listed address.
source https://www.tokentalk.co/The Block/indictment-reveals-new-clues-in-the-crypto-capital-situation-5cc9a9315e27663e7ced63e7
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