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SAN FRANCISCO – Ryan Mark Ginster pleaded guilty today in federal court to wire fraud involving an online investment website designed to defraud investors, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office.
In a written plea agreement he entered today, Ginster, 35, of Corona, California, admitted that he operated a website beginning in February 2018 called Socialprofimatic.com. He designed the website with the intent to defraud investors by making false representations about cryptocurrency investment opportunities. On Socialprofimatic.com, Ginster represented that investments with Socialprofimatic.com would receive returns of 8% a day and claimed that “This will be JOB REPLACING income, the income that will pay you every hour of every day even when your [sic] sleeping or on holiday.” He further claimed on the website that investors could “request your profits at any time you want and they’ll be INSTANTLY paid to your Bitcoin/Litecoin wallet.” Ginster admitted these and numerous other claims on his website were entirely false and intended solely to influence investors to part with their money or property. In the 38 days that the Socialprofimatic.com website was active, the website received approximately 9,026 deposits of bitcoin totaling approximately 98.12089739 BTC, valued at the time at approximately $844,667. Ginster admitted he did not invest the funds but instead deposited these funds into his own cryptocurrency wallet. That cryptocurrency is now worth over $1.6 million.
Ginster entered his guilty plea before United States District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for Ginster on March 29, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. Ginster remains out of custody pending sentencing.
Ginster pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Any sentence following conviction, however, would be imposed only by a court only after its consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing sentencing, 18 USC § 3553.
The case is being prosecuted by the Corporate and Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. This prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS-CI Washington D.C. Cyber Crimes Unit.
The Los Angeles Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil enforcement action against Ginster in the Central District of California. That action is pending.
If you believe you have been a victim of this fraud scheme, please contact IRS-Criminal Investigation at emsvictim@ci.irs.gov or go to the following website:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/us-v-ryan-mark-ginster-22-cr-00374-jsc
The criminal complaint in this matter can be viewed on PACER or by visiting the website for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California at www.justice.gov/usao-ndca where press releases are posted.
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