The defendant in the Plus Token case was formally prosecuted by the procuratorate for suspected pyramid scheme crimes

On September 7, 2020, the China Procuratorate Network publicly disclosed the latest developments in the Plus Token case.

According to the information, the Xiangshui County Procuratorate of Yancheng City has completed its review of the criminal circumstances of the main members of the case and formally filed a public prosecution with the People's Court of the same level.
According to the information released by the Ministry of Public Security in July 2020, the investigation of this case was under the unified command and deployment of the Ministry of Public Security. It was the first major cross-network pyramid scheme case using digital currency as a trading medium, involving 27 major criminal suspects, 82 core members of pyramid scheme crimes, more than 2 million participants, more than 3,000 levels, and a total value of digital currency exceeding 40 billion yuan. (For details, see: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/F36R1aOuKmz3rz_N1zJ8hg)
In recent years, digital currency has become a new thing that has been constantly entering people's horizons. Its investment attributes have attracted many people who want to quickly increase their assets. However, criminals have also taken advantage of this mentality of investors and quietly laid a large net to illegally make money.
Article 224 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of my country stipulates: "Whoever organizes or leads a pyramid scheme in the name of business activities such as selling goods or providing services, requires participants to pay fees or purchase goods or services to obtain membership, and forms a hierarchy in a certain order, directly or indirectly uses the number of recruits as the basis for remuneration or rebates, induces or coerces participants to continue to recruit others to participate, defrauds property, and disrupts the economic and social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and a fine; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and a fine."
Lawyers remind that in the field of digital currency transactions, the value of digital currency depends on the trust consensus of the participants and whether it is backed by physical assets. However, some digital currency issuers promote air coins, commit fraud, or require investors to purchase digital currency as an entry threshold and then use the fees paid by the development personnel to make profits and engage in illegal pyramid schemes. Therefore, investors should keep their eyes open to identify specific projects and decide whether to invest based on their risk tolerance. For digital currency issuers, they must comply with the laws and regulations of the country where they are located and conduct business prudently. Otherwise, they will face legal risks such as civil compensation, administrative penalties, and criminal offenses. (Blockchain Lawyer)