Florida crypto investor Brian Firestone accused Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC) of colluding with the fraudulent exchange CoinBridge Partners, causing him to lose $860,000.
According to a lawsuit filed by Firestone in the Colorado district court, in December a man named John Smith, who claimed to be a representative of ASITC, approached him. Smith offered to teach the man how to trade cryptocurrencies, and as part of the 'training', he was allocated $500. On the website of the now-defunct training center, users were offered to trade through a fake exchange called CoinBridge in Cherry Creek, which was said to have attracted $10 million from 600 investors. In his complaint, Firestone claims that CoinBridge turned out to be a 'completely fake exchange.'
'Professors' from the so-called cryptocurrency school sent investors signals with instructions on when to trade. Trainees made transactions through their accounts on CoinBridge. According to Firestone, his initial $500 quickly grew to $55,000, so in January he deposited another $50,000 on the platform. Within a few weeks, the investor's balance grew to $2 million.
However, the trader's enthusiasm did not last long. Due to a losing trade, his balance shrank to $12,000. Then Firestone transferred $470,000 in cash to the platform and took out a loan of $330,000 from ASITC to continue trading. The trader noted that his balance on CoinBridge rapidly grew to $24.5 million, but in March he faced difficulties executing a trade in the USDT stablecoins.
Firestone was told that the failure was caused by a 'system error', and the trader's balance 'vanished'. A few days later, the unfortunate trader borrowed another $1 million from ASITC, 'growing' his balance to $6.6 million. However, when he was unable to repay part of the loan, ASITC closed his account on May 1.
The man accused ASITC, CoinBridge, Smith, and founder Raymond Torres of fraud, theft, and extortion. The real Coinbridge Partners in Wyoming denies any connection to the alleged fraud.