UK shuts down ‘trust me bro’ crypto firm that promoted $1.7B Ponzi

A UK-based crypto advice firm that told customers their investments were “100 certy” and to “trust me bro” was shut down by the country’s High Court last month following an investigation into investor losses.

Amey Finance Academy, helmed by sole director and self-proclaimed ‘wealth creation expert’ Desmond Amey, was wound up by the UK’s Insolvency Service on April 30 after it “recklessly persuaded individuals to invest in cryptocurrency schemes and mislead them about the risks of doing so.”

It also failed to hand over adequate records and displayed a lack of transparency that prevented the Insolvency Service from establishing the true extent of its activities.

Among those who lost their investment was one investor who was told by Amey that their investment wouldn’t drop below 90%. They ended up losing all of their money.

In WhatsApp messages seen by the Insolvency Service, Amey told another investor that the investments were “100 certy” and to “trust me bro.”

Amey Finance Academy shilled Ponzi with fake CEO

Among the projects promoted by Amey was HyperFund — later, Hyperverse — a Ponzi scheme that went unchecked by Australian authorities for two years, despite defrauding investors out of $1.7 billion.

The scheme, that was also fronted by a fake CEO, was first referred by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to the country’s Victoria police in 2020 for “possible fraud offences.”

However, it wasn’t until two years later in January 2022, that Victoria Police referred it back to ASIC.

Read more: Who is Steve Harrison? The fake HyperVerse CEO unmasked

The company was also investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged its founder Sam Lee with fraud in January 2024.

When interviewed about HyperFund, Amey claimed he only used the company’s bank account to help people buying crypto via a separate company called Bleuguava.

He also used a false email signature that wrongly claimed he was authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and claimed in a 2023 YouTube video that he maintained an office at 1 Canada Square at Canary Wharf in London. He’d actually been evicted for non-payment of rent in January of that year.

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