A church pastor is facing more than two dozen criminal charges in connection with a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme.
There is a lot to unpack in this story, but the short of it is that Francier Obando Pinillo faces 26 counts of fraud for running a scam on his congregation between November 2021 and October 2023.
Pinillo, a resident of Miami, will face charges in Washington state as the crimes occurred at a church in Pasco, Washington.
It is alleged that Pinillo was pumping his congregants for money in the form of cryptocurrency investments. Acting as a trusted religious adviser in a Spanish-speaking community in rural Washington, it is said that Pinillo took advantage of the community to extort cash.
“The indictment alleges Pinillo used his position as pastor to induce members of his congregation and others to invest their money in a cryptocurrency investment business known as ‘Solano Fi’,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in announcing the charges.
“Pinillo claimed the idea for Solano Fi had come to him in a dream and that it was a safe and guaranteed investment.”
The DOJ alleges that Pinillo operated something similar to a Ponzi scheme, telling congregants that their money would bring returns of 34.9% with zero risk of losing their investment.
In reality, the money was allegedly going into Pinillo’s pocket and, when the victims asked to receive their money back, they were met with threats and demands to expand the pyramid scheme.
At its peak, the scheme was both an in-person and social-media operation, with a Facebook group of more than 1,500 people.
“The indictment alleges when victims tried to remove their assets from Solano Fi, Pinillo claimed he could not return the assets until cryptocurrency markets improved, or because the website or application was down, or that he would not return their investment unless the victim brought in a new investor to 'buy out' their account,” the DOJ said.
“The indictment further alleges Pinillo told investors they were required to send more money to ‘repair’ and upgrade the Solano Fi system so that investors could get their funds back.”
Pinillo, age 51, faces 26 counts of fraud. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, though defendants rarely see that amount of time.
“Fraudulent investment schemes are not new, but cryptocurrency scams are a new way fraudsters take money from hardworking, honest people,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref.
“Cryptocurrency fraudsters often quickly route funds to international accounts, which presents new challenges for law enforcement attempting to recover lost funds.”
