A cryptocurrency trading firm has been shut down after scamming investors.
PGI Global UK Ltd has been wound up by the High Court with the Official Receiver appointed liquidator of the company.
The company’s principal business activity was the provision of crypto trading packages, blockchain education and health products.
Despite conflicting accounts of the company’s trading activity provided by two former directors, it appears that the main business activity conducted by PGI was the sale and purchase of cryptocurrency.
Investors were promised returns of up to 200%. But when these did not materialise, investors were unable to withdraw the funds they had invested.
Three bank accounts were identified as operated by PGI and were used to receive approximately £612,425 from its would-be investors between July 2020 and February 2021.
Payments from the accounts included at least £195,000 paid to personal accounts, and a £10,000 payment to a luxury department store.
PGI is stated to be part of the Praetorian Group International Trading Inc. whose website has been seized by the US Department of Justice and US Department of the Treasury following a seizure warrant issued by the US District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia.
The company’s sole appointed director is Ramil Ventura Palafox, who lives in the USA. He did not cooperate with the Insolvency Service investigation.
The High Court agreed that closing down the company was in the public interest, given the lack of cooperation, failure to maintain, preserve and/or deliver up adequate accounting records, trading with a lack of commercial probity, and failure to comply with statutory obligations and lacking transparency.
“Individuals and businesses that operate under the protections afforded by limited liability are, as a consequence, required to comply with the requirements of the Companies Act,” said Mark George, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service.
“This case highlights that where we have reasonable concerns about the trading practices of a company the court will take a dim view of any failure to cooperate with a statutory enquiry and will wind up the company in the public interest.”