Pastor accused of $6 million crypto fraud

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has declared war on the Washington pastor.

CFTC filed a lawsuit v. Pastor Francier Obando Pinillo of Pasco, Washington. He was accused of a $6 million crypto fraud in which he defrauded more than 1,500 people, including members of his church.

How a Pastor Deceived Investors

According to the CFTC, beginning in 2021, Pinillo offered to offer parishioners and certain other people to make money using cryptocurrency. According to him, monthly profits from investments in digital assets could bring up to 35%.

Pastor claimed to be the head of a trading platform called Solanofi and related companies Solano Partners Ltd. and Solano Capital Investments. They allegedly traded cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), using automated trading bots.

It is reported that Pinillo mainly targeted Spanish-speaking clients who had no experience in crypto transactions. It gave them access to an online dashboard of account statements and encouraged them to refer friends and family with the promise of referral rewards.

In reality, no platform existed. Pinillo appropriated all the assets invested by parishioners and other victims of the pastor’s scheme. In total, he managed to deceive more than 1,500 people.

Many of the investors were allegedly members of his church. According to prosecutors, this only increased the level of trust and reduced the vigilance of participants in the scheme.

In response to the allegations, Pinillo said his actions were not intentional and that he had no malicious intent. However, the CFTC is still seeking damages and criminal penalties.

Now the Washington pastor must appear in federal court. The trial will continue in 2025.

Earlier, on-chain detective ZachXBT exposed a crypto fraudster who stole more than $6.5 million by pretending to be the support team for the Coinbase crypto exchange.

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