US charges 18 people, companies for cryptocurrency fraud

FILE PHOTO: Bitcoin and ether souvenir tokens plunge into water

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) -Four cryptocurrency companies and 14 individuals have been charged in what U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday called the first criminal prosecution of financial services firms for market manipulation and sham trading in the crypto sector.

Federal prosecutors in Boston charged the firms Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global and MyTrade and their leaders and employees in a case that also involved charges of people overseas. Five people have agreed to plead guilty or have already done so.