Federal prosecutors have charged two men with orchestrating one of the largest crypto investment scams in recent history, defrauding victims of more than $650 million.
Michael Shannon Sims, 48, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57, were indicted in the District of Puerto Rico for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday.
The pair allegedly ran OmegaPro, a multi-level marketing (MLM) platform masquerading as a legitimate forex and cryptocurrency trading service. The DOJ described OmegaPro as a “global fraud scheme” that preyed on thousands of victims worldwide between 2019 and 2023.
Prosecutors say Sims and Reynoso promised investors massive returns from “elite traders” using forex strategies, but in reality, they funneled the funds into crypto wallets they controlled. These funds were then distributed among high-ranking insiders and promoters to obscure the money’s origin, with both men allegedly pocketing millions of dollars.
“The defendants preyed upon vulnerable individuals in the U.S. and abroad, defrauding them of over $650 million,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, DOJ’s Criminal Division head.
Sims, OmegaPro’s founder and strategic consultant, oversaw global operations, while Reynoso directed regional growth across Latin America and U.S. territories like Puerto Rico.
To maintain the illusion of success, prosecutors say the duo staged lavish marketing events—most notably projecting the OmegaPro logo on the Burj Khalifa—and flaunted luxury lifestyles across social media.
Karan Pujara, founder of anti-scam platform ScamBuzzer, noted that such MLM crypto schemes “exploit powerful psychological triggers” and often blur moral lines.
“The only thing that changes is the face of the scammer,” Pujara said, “and the victim, who is greedy enough to YOLO their life savings.”
The fraud began unraveling in November 2022 when OmegaPro abruptly disabled withdrawals, citing “technical issues.” Affiliates soon found themselves locked out of their accounts. Despite reassurances in early 2023 that funds would be migrated to a new platform called Broker Group, victims never regained access.
Regulators in France, Belgium, Spain, and Peru had issued warnings about OmegaPro before its collapse in July 2023.
The DOJ’s case follows the arrest of co-founder Andreas Szakacs in Istanbul last year, after a Dutch whistleblower representing 3,000 victims alerted Turkish authorities. Investigators suspect OmegaPro may have ties to the infamous OneCoin scam, which defrauded investors of $4 billion in 2017.
Pujara added that recovering the stolen assets will be difficult:
“Scammers use fake KYC and avoid regulated exchanges. The recovery rate is extremely low.”
If convicted, Sims and Reynoso each face up to 20 years in federal prison per charge.
