Australian court convicts BitConnect promoter of unlicensed financial advice

An Australian court has found BitConnect promoter John Bigatton guilty of providing unlicensed financial advice between 2017 and 2018.

The national promoter of the BitConnect Ponzi scheme, Australian John Louis Anthony Bigatton, was found guilty by the Sydney District Court of providing unlicensed financial advice, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced on Monday.

Bigatton was released on “three years of good behaviour” for promoting BitConnect “at seminars and on social media” in Australia between late 2017 and early 2018, the regulator said in a July 15 press release.

“Providing unlicensed financial advice denies Australian investors access to essential protections and undermines trust and confidence in Australia’s financial services sector.”

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court

Founded in 2016, BitConnect has created a token called BitConnect Coin, which can be exchanged for Bitcoin (BTC) to participate in the exchange’s investment opportunities. ASIC says Bigatton claimed at two of the seminars that BitConnect was better than all term deposits on the market and that BitConnect Coins would “gain value of at least $1,000.”

Bigatton pleaded guilty in mid-May to a criminal charge of providing unlicensed financial services after admitting to doing so on behalf of another person. In January 2023, the U.S. federal district court in San Diego ruled that more than 800 victims of the Bitconnect Ponzi scheme should receive a portion of the $17 million in compensation from the $2.4 billion fraud.

BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani was indicted by a US court grand jury in early 2022 for allegedly orchestrating an international multi-billion dollar crypto Ponzi scheme. US Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Richard Primoff said in a regulatory filing that Kumbhani “probably moved from India to an unknown address in a foreign country.” His whereabouts are currently unknown.