Russians accused of using DeFi platform for $340 million Ponzi scheme

Four Russian nationals were indicted by a federal grand jury in Oregon this week for their involvement in a decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency investment platform that the Justice Department believes was a Ponzi scheme. 

Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev and Sergey Maslakov are accused of running Forsage, a DeFi project that they marketed and raised $340 million for through investors across the globe. 

According to the DOJ, the four built measures into the platform’s code that diverted funds from …

cryptocurrency decentralized defi department doj federal finance forsage investment investors justice justice department oregon platform ponzi ponzi scheme project russian russians sergey vladimir