The individuals behind fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme Global Trading Club will have to pay heavy penalties, as shown by the latest filings at the Texas Southern District Court.

Judge Sim Lake has earlier this week signed consent orders against Cesar Castaneda, Joel Castaneda Garcia, and Mayco Alexis Maldonado Garcia. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which brought the action back in September 2020, had indicated that such orders were in store.

According to the orders, Maldonado will have to pay restitution in the amount of $989,550. He will also have to pay a civil monetary penalty in the amount of $400,000.

The Castaneda Defendants, jointly and severally, agree to pay restitution in the amount of $989,550. Cesar Castaneda and Joel Castaneda Garcia will each pay a civil monetary penalty in the amount of $180,000.

Let’s recall that the CFTC complaint alleges that from at least August 2016 through October 2017, the defendants falsely represented to actual and potential customers that their business, named Global Trading Club (GTC), employed “master traders” who had years of experience trading “crypto currency,” and used “cutting edge trading robots” to trade Bitcoin for customers “24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

The defendants further falsely represented that customer earnings would increase based on the amount of their deposits. Customers were also falsely promised a bonus for referring others, in the form of a multi-level marketing scheme. To conceal their fraud, the defendants caused misleading trading statements to be posted online.

The complaint further alleges that at least 27 individual customers deposited at least $989,000 with one or more representatives of GTC.