{"id":52360,"date":"2023-08-24T05:36:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T09:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/former-nj-officer-arrested-for-alleged-crypto-scheme-targeting-first-responders\/"},"modified":"2023-08-24T05:36:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T09:36:32","slug":"former-nj-officer-arrested-for-alleged-crypto-scheme-targeting-first-responders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=52360","title":{"rendered":"Former NJ Officer Arrested for Alleged Crypto Scheme Targeting First Responders"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A former corrections officer from\u00a0<strong>New Jersey<\/strong>\u00a0has been arrested for targeting law enforcement and first responders in an investment scheme involving a digital token.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>John DeSalvo<\/strong>, a 47-year-old resident of Marmora, New Jersey, allegedly created and promoted the Blazar Token in a bid to lure investors with the promise of a &#8220;crypto pension&#8221; that could supplement their pension plans, according to a Wednesday\u00a0announcement\u00a0from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n<p>DeSalvo claimed that the token was either in the process of being approved or had already received approval from the SEC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This false claim prompted over 200 investors, primarily police, fire personnel, and EMTs, to contribute more than $620,000 to the scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Blazar Token is the first token or coin that is able to be purchased through payroll deduction every week,&#8221; DeSalvo allegedly told investors.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;It will be taken out of one\u2019s weekly earnings pretax similar to payment into a pension, 401k, IRA, or any other retirement savings plans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In May last year, DeSalvo sold billions of his own Blazar tokens while other investors were barred from selling their tokens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The sell-off caused the token&#8217;s price to plummet by more than 99%, which resulted in significant losses for most investors involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We allege that DeSalvo orchestrated several fraudulent investment schemes that targeted law enforcement personnel and promised astronomical returns, including one involving a crypto asset security that would somehow replace traditional state pension systems,&#8221; Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC&#8217;s enforcement division, said in a comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He added that instead of producing any returns for investors, DeSalvo misappropriated and misused their funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The SEC seeks a permanent injunction against DeSalvo barring him from security offerings, as well as civil penalties and disgorgement of profits.<\/p>\n<h2>US Regulators Increase Crypto Scrutiny<\/h2>\n<p>The enforcement action against DeSalvo comes just days after a US court sentenced\u00a0<strong>OpenSea\u2019<\/strong>s former head of product to three months in prison for using inside knowledge to trade NFTs.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, back in March, the SEC\u00a0filed civil charges against eight celebrities, alleging they illegally promoted two cryptocurrencies without disclosing that they were paid to do so.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, the SEC unveiled charges against celebrities who promoted cryptocurrencies Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT), which were sold by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The celebrities involved include actress\u00a0<strong>Lindsay Lohan<\/strong>, internet personality\u00a0<strong>Jake Paul<\/strong>, musician\u00a0<strong>Soulja Boy<\/strong>, singer\u00a0<strong>Austin Mahone<\/strong>, porn actress\u00a0<strong>Kendra Lust<\/strong>, rapper\u00a0<strong>Lil Yachty<\/strong>, musician\u00a0<strong>Ne-Yo<\/strong>, and Senegalese-American singer\u00a0<strong>Akon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, the agency\u00a0charged\u00a0former NBA player\u00a0<strong>Paul Pierce<\/strong>\u00a0with violating anti-fraud and anti-touting rules by promoting the EthereumMax cryptocurrency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pierce has agreed to settle the charges and pay $1.409 million in penalties.<\/p>\n<p>In October last year, the SEC also charged\u00a0<strong>Kim Kardashian<\/strong>\u00a0for touting the EMAX crypto asset on her Instagram feed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the time, the reality TV superstar agreed to pay\u00a0$1.26 million\u00a0to settle the charges over the promotion of the token.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.com\/news\/former-nj-officer-arrested-for-alleged-crypto-scheme-targeting-first-responders.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former corrections officer from\u00a0New Jersey\u00a0has been arrested for targeting law enforcement and first responders in an investment scheme involving a digital token.\u00a0 John DeSalvo, a 47-year-old resident of Marmora, New Jersey, allegedly created and promoted the Blazar Token in a bid to lure investors with the promise of a &#8220;crypto pension&#8221; that could supplement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-52360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former NJ Officer Arrested for Alleged Crypto Scheme Targeting First Responders | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former corrections officer from\u00a0New Jersey\u00a0has been arrested for targeting law enforcement and first responders in an investment scheme involving a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=52360\" 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