Norway has charged four men with involvement in a “large and extensive” investment fraud that collected NOK 963 million ($86.5 million) from investors between March 2015 and November 2018.
Filing its indictment Monday, the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway—also known as Økokrim—alleged that the fraud operated by encouraging individuals to invest in yield-bearing “product packages” containing cryptocurrencies and shares.
Økokrim says it has proof that the accused network of individuals made no real investments, and that their business had no earnings beyond the deposits of victims.
In a press release, Økokrim State Prosecutor Joakim Ziesler Berge said, “We believe this is a large and extensive fraud. We are talking about a great many victims in many countries who have lost their money, and significant sums that have ended up with the defendants.”
The defendants in question are four Norwegian men in their 50s, 60s and 70s, with three having allegedly collected the invested money, and with one other accused of having participated in money laundering.
The network laundered over NOK 7…
