EFRI Campaign COINTED – Update On the Investor Fraud Conspiracy

In COINTED’s home turf Austria, the case of COINTED conspiracy has already been investigated for months by the public prosecutor’s office. The EFRI campaign for the recovery of funds of harmed investors was already launched in November 2018 with the participation of FinTelegram. Since then, many people have filed their claims and provided information. The suspected fraud case involving the COINTED and OPTIOMENT crypto projects is certainly one of the largest investor fraud scheme in the crypto sector. Worldwide, more than 10,000 investors from various jurisdictions are said to have been cheated by more than 100 million euros.

The Austrian Public Prosecutor’s office investigates

The Austrian COINTED GmbH is in bankruptcy already, while international companies of the COINTED conspiracy network are still alive. Although, it is still not clear yet how many companies are actually involved in this global scheme. After two office raids conducted by the Austrian police in 2018, the data is still being evaluated. The search for the missing millions is likely to prove difficult if not impossible. As is well known, COINTED is also directly linked to the Cryptocrime Case OPTIOMENT in which around 10,000 investors were damaged up to 100 million euros. Now we have received documents that also in Switzerland injured parties have filed criminal charges against some of the involved persons.

The Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Office investigates

The investigations are conducted under the reference number VAR 2018 97-SID at the ZUG prosecutor´s office. As part of the EFRI initiative to recover funds from fraudulent investors, we are currently in contact with all investigating authorities and are exchanging information.

According to the information available to us, Swiss professional services providers involved also filed complaints on suspicion of money laundering. In this regard, detailed information is available on some of the companies, persons and bank details involved. Switzerland has been sort of a hub for the COINTED scheme which is partly due to the geographical location but also because of personal relationships of Eduard ORLOFF, one of the COINTED conspirators.

Who Are The Conspirators?

The former shareholders of the Austrian COINTED – Christopher RIEDER, Wolfgang THALER, Charli AHO and Daniil ORLOV – blame each other for the fraud on the investors. They do not even deny that the fraud took place. There are only different statements about who the perpetrator was.

Ask Charli AHO for the fraudsters in the COINTED conspiracy, for example, and you will get the answer that Christopher RIEDER was the principal of the conspiracy and his friend and partner Wolfgang THALER the willing co-conspirator. He, his long-term partner and friend Daniil ORLOV and Eduard ORLOFF would actually also be victims of the COINTED conspiracy. This is as ridiculous as it sounds. Being the victim and good guy, he would be ready to support the investigating authorities in order to indict Christopher RIEDER and Wolfgang THALER and to be able to find investment money.

In fact, it has since turned out that Charli AHO, Daniil ORLOV and his father Eduard ORLOFF were the real masterminds and principals behind the COINTED conspiracy. The key companies through which the investment funds were funneled also belong to the ORLOV (ORLOFF) and AHO families.

In addition to the many companies around COINTED GmbH, the two families currently operate a number of new companies and brands together with their Austrian partner Roman SCHMATZER. They used investor funds to finance the establishment of the luxury brand HOUSE OF ORLOFF in Switzerland, London, and Vienna or the new crypto group BITBROTHERS in Malta and Vienna.

We are aware of emails from Christopher RIEDER warning Charli AHO against making certain transactions because they would not be legal. All documents and statements available to us indicate that actually all shareholders of COINTED GmbH have cooperated and established a criminal investor fraud organization (the COINTED conspiracy). Non of them is a victim, all are co-conspirators and perpetrators. Apparently, tax advisors and legal representatives were involved.

The SWISS CRYPTO NET AG

The Swiss SWISS CRYPTO NET AG is likely to be at the center of the COINTED conspiracy to defraud investors. The company was named SWISS CRYPTO GROUP AG until January 2018 and was founded by Charli AHO and Daniil ORLOV as well as his father Eduard ORLOFF. In the course of COINTED’s ICO, SWISS CRYPTO GROUP AG was presented as a subsidiary of COINTED in the whitepaper and the notorious transparency report. However, this did not correspond to the facts. As a matter of fact, SWISS CRYPTO GROUP AG was always under the control of its beneficial owners Charli AHO and Daniil ORLOV.

oMoreover, both Christopher RIEDER and the Austrian COINTED GmbH were investors and paid millions to SWISS CRYPTO GROUP AG. Purportedly, the payments were made for the purchase of crypto mining equipment. In fact, the money was probably transferred to a shell company in Hong Kong even if the money was actually used for hardware purchases, there is no assurance where the hardware actually was installed. Evidently either the money or the hardware vanished into the personal sphere of the ORLOV/ORLOFF and AHO families as RIEDER now purports. He, therefore, takes legal action against Charli AHO and SWISS CRYPTO NET AG.

The Polish Crypto Mining Subsidiary

According to rumors, the investors’ crypto-mining servers or at least some of it are currently located in Poland and managed by the Polish subsidiary of SWISS CRYPTO NET AG. Eduard ORLOFF holds 75% of the shares in the Polish SWISS CRYPTO GROUP POLAND Z.O.O. and his son Daniil OLORV holds the remaining 25%. In fact, however, the company is actually owned by the Swiss company and thus beneficially owned by the ORLOV/ORLOFF and AHO families.

Cash Flows And Bank Details

A lot of new information was secured through the EFRI campaign. Copies of bank statements of the participating companies SWISS CRYPTO GROUP AG, COINTED GmbH, CRYPTO UNITY OG and BITBROTHERS were made available. Many pieces of information came up to form a big puzzle. We can, therefore, start to track some money flows. That alone results in a white-collar crime thriller. Payments from various countries such as Russia, England, Switzerland, Austria, China, and Hong Kong show the global dimension of this presumed investor fraud.

EFRI Facts Presentation

In close cooperation with the participating investors and their legal representatives, EFRI is currently working on a comprehensive presentation of the facts. This should give the investigating authorities as well as the bankruptcy administrator an overview of the complex, worldwide entanglements of this conspiracy to defraud investors.

Reporting claims and incidents

If you are one of the victims of COINTED or Messrs Charli AHO, Daniil ORLOV, Wolfgang THALER or SWISS CRYPTO NET AG, please contact us via the EFRI page. The initiators of the campaigns are available free of charge for questions and information.