Horst Jicha talks about cryptocurrency.
Source: Team Business Global | YouTube
A German citizen who was under house arrest in New York City on $5 million bail guaranteed by his partner and children, accused of overseeing a $150 million cryptocurrency fraud, is now on the run.
“There is a very active investigation underway to catch him,” John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, said Friday, a day after defendant Horst Jicha failed to appear in federal court in Brooklyn as scheduled.
“We will withhold the bail,” Marzulli added, meaning prosecutors will seek to obtain the $4 million portion of the bail held by Jicha's partner, his children and three other people, all in Germany live, was personally guaranteed.
Another million US dollars in cash to secure the bond had been deposited with the federal government.
Horst is suspected of tampering with his ankle monitor on Oct. 3, a prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn told a judge Thursday at a hearing to resolve pretrial issues in the case.
After noticing that Jicha's ankle bracelet was not working, investigators sent him an email instructing him to visit their office the next day. Jicha did not appear, the prosecutor told U.S. District Court Judge Orelia Merchant.
Only then did the investigative commission inform prosecutors that Jicha's ankle bracelet stopped working, 26 hours after learning of this fact, the prosecutor told the judge.
Jicha's defense attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNBC has reached out to Brooklyn Federal Court Pretrial Services for comment.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace makes a statement after a court hearing for former U.S. Representative George Santos on August 19, 2024 in West Islip, New York.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Jicha is scheduled to go to trial on March 31 in the case in which he is accused of multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy in connection with a multi-level marketing scheme called USI Tech.
According to prosecutors, Jicha lied to retail investors when he told them they would earn an average return of 140% on their money within 140 days.
Investors were told there were two ways to make money: First, they could invest in alleged Bitcoin mining and trading businesses. They could also earn commissions for recommending others to purchase USI Tech products, the indictment against Jicha says.
“In reality, the platform was just a front, and when questions arose, Jicha stole millions of his investors’ funds and fled the country,” FBI Assistant Director James Smith said in January.
As of Friday, Jicha's whereabouts were unknown. Court records show he had lived in Brazil and Spain before being arrested in Florida in late 2023.
Jicha was released on bail in January and had been living in Brooklyn.
Under the terms of Jicha's release, he was required to remain in New York City or Long Island and not leave his home except for court appearances, attorney visits or doctor's appointments unless authorized by pretrial services.
As a condition of his release, 64-year-old Jicha also had to surrender all passports and travel documents.
Court documents show that Jicha's $5 million release bond was guaranteed and signed in January by his partner, Ewa Jicha, as well as Jicha's adults According to court documents, these are the son and his three daughters as well as the boyfriend of one of Jicha's daughters and the friend's brother and father.
According to court documents, all of these people were residents of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
However, according to the terms of the bond, they are also personally responsible for the amount of the bond.
After Horst Jicha's release, Ewa Jicha acted as his third supervisor and was required to report any violations of his release to a US probation officer.
Jicha was arrested in Miami on December 23 after entering the United States for vacation for the first time in more than five years.
Prosecutors allege Jicha founded USI Tech in Europe, where as co-founder and CEO he claimed the company would “make cryptocurrency investing easy and accessible for the average retail investor.”
“In reality, this was a multi-stage marketing scheme that relied on investors recruiting other investors among them to purchase various purported cryptocurrency investments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in January.
“In 2017, Jicha brought USI Tech to the United States and aggressively marketed it to U.S. retailers on social media and through in-person presentations in which he falsely guaranteed high returns on investment and made false claims about the legitimacy of the platform’s investment offerings.” the office said. There are several videos on YouTube showing Jicha hyping the company.
In early 2018, after USI Tech came under regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., the company “suspended all U.S. operations overnight, leaving investors unable to access their money, resulting in millions of dollars in losses.”
Prosecutors said much of the missing money in the scam, “worth approximately $150 million at the time of his arrest,” was kept in the form of cash ether And Bitcoin Cryptocurrency. After USI Tech ceased operations, this cryptocurrency was sent to digital deposit addresses controlled by Jicha.
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