<p>The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that it filed charges last month against three individuals who allegedly cryptocurrency investment scheme.</p> <p>The complaint, filed under seal on May 7, targets Modern Money Team (MMT), which it describes as a "multilevel marketing business" that defrauded investors of more than $12 million. MMT describes itself as a "trading community" on its official <a href="http://www.modernmoneyteam.com/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a>, offering products related to binary options, forex and crypto.</p> <p>As the agency's <a href="https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2020/lr24829.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">press statement notes</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>"The SEC's complaint, unsealed today in federal court in Salt Lake City, alleges that, beginning in at least July 2017, Putnam operated a multilevel marketing business known as "Modern Money Team" and sold interests in a purported cryptocurrency mining operation to nearly two hundred investors. According to the complaint, Putnam misappropriated some of these investor funds and spent them on a condominium and other personal expenses. The complaint alleges that Putnam, Ramirez, and Rodriguez, then raised additional funds by offering so-called "cryptocurrency trading packages" to investors with the potential for high returns. In reality, as alleged, the defendants misappropriated investor funds for personal use and to make Ponzi-like distributions to earlier investors."</p> </blockquote> <p>Along with Daniel Putnam, Jean Paul Ramirez Rico and Angel Rodriguez, two business entities — MMT Distribution and R&amp;D Global — are named in the complaint. </p> <p>The full complaint can be found <a href="https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp24829.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p>