ZMQuant
was
registered
in
the
British
Virgin
Islands,
but
the
employees
named
in
its
indictment
were
based
in
Hong
Kong.
Though
Gotbit
was
not
registered
anywhere,
it’s
employees
are
believed
to
be
Russian.
The
list
of
manipulated
tokens
included
Robo
Inu,
which
pumped
after
the
indictment
was
unsealed.
Other
named
defendants
include
VZZN
and
Saitama.
According
to
the
indictments,
each
token
–
including
Robo
Inu
–
is
classified
as
a
security.
Several
of
the
people
behind
the
projects,
including
Robo
Inu
founder
Vy
Pham,
have
also
been
named
as
defendants.
During
the
course
of
their
investigation,
Federal
Bureau
of
Investigation
(FBI)
agents
created
an
Ethereum-based
cryptocurrency,
called
NextFundAI,
with
the
help
of
“cooperating
witnesses”
and
used
it
to
“identify,
disrupt,
and
bring
these
alleged
fraudsters
to
justice,”
according
to
a
Wednesday
press
release.
The
token,
according
to
court
documents,
is
also
a
security.
A
representative
for
the
FBI
added
that
there
was
limited
trading
“activity”
on
the
coin
but
declined
to
share
any
additional
information
beyond
what
is
currently
available
in
public
documents,
including
whether
the
FBI
worked
with
any
crypto
companies
on
the
project.
Joshua
Levy,
the
Acting
U.S.
Attorney
for
the
District
of
Massachusetts,
said
trading
on
the
token
was
disabled
during
a
press
call
Wednesday
afternoon.