PlusToken pyramid scheme case sentenced 16 defendants to prison terms ranging from two to eleven years

The first-instance verdict of the PlusToken online pyramid scheme case prosecuted by the Yancheng Economic Development Zone Procuratorate of Jiangsu Province has been made public: the court sentenced 16 defendants including Chen, Ding, and Peng to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two to eleven years for the crime of organizing and leading pyramid schemes, and imposed fines. The stolen goods, stolen money, interest, and criminal tools involved in the case were confiscated and turned over to the state treasury in accordance with the law.

The police found out that from May 2018 to June 2019, Chen, Ding, Peng and others set up the PlusToken platform and developed more than 2 million members. In addition to domestic members, there are also many overseas members, with more than 3,000 levels of hierarchical relationships.

In one year, the platform attracted more than 9.48 million digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum from members, which was equivalent to more than 50 billion yuan in total according to the market conditions at the time. Most of the digital currencies were used to issue members "recruiting people" rewards, and some were converted into cash for daily expenses and personal squandering by Chen, Ding, Peng and others. Chen and others packaged the platform as a multinational company, while Peng had a criminal record of pyramid schemes and rich experience in pyramid scheme promotion, and Ding had "status and resources" in the blockchain field and was familiar with blockchain technology.