USI-Tech’s Horst Jicha indicted, arrested in Florida
USI-Tech co-founder Horst Jicha has been arrested in Florida.
Jicha was indicted under seal on August 23rd, 2023.
On December 21st, the DOJ filed a motion seeking limited unsealing of Jicha’s indictment.
The stated reason for the request was
for the limited purpose of disclosure to and by law enforcement personnel, including foreign authorities and the International Criminal Police Organization (“INTERPOL”), for use in locating or arresting the defendant.
On December 26th, the court ordered Jicha’s indictment be unsealed to the public. News of Jicha’s arrest in Florida broke a few hours ago.
As reported by Local10, Jicha (right)
was booked into the Broward County jail Friday on a U.S. Marshals hold and was no longer listed in local jail records as of Wednesday morning.
Jicha, a German national with ties to Brazil and Spain, appears to have been arrested within 24 hours of his indictment being initially unsealed for law enforcement.
Jicha’s indictment cites USI-Tech co-founders Ralf Gold (right) and Joao Severino as co-conspirators.
We can’t confirm for sure yet but Gold and Severino are assumed to have been indicted alongside Jicha.
Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2, individuals whose identities are known to the Grand Jury, were executives of USI-Tech.
As at time of publication, both Gold and Severino remain at large.
USI-Tech itself was an MLM Ponzi scheme launched in 2016. The original model used forex trading as a ruse.
That lasted about a year, prompting a cryptocurrency reboot in July 2017.
Following regulatory fraud warnings from British Columbia, Texas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, USI-Tech collapsed for a second time in December 2017.
This prompted a third reboot, this time built around a “Tech Coin” ICO. USI-Tech would go on to completely collapse a month later in January 2018.
In a January 22nd, 2018 marketing video, Jicha claimed “USI-Tech never did anything illegal in the United States”. Shortly thereafter, Jicha stopped communicating with USI-Tech victims and went into hiding.
Jicha’s indictment cites him as CEO of USI-Tech, a Ponzi scheme that defrauded consumers out of “approximately 1774 bitcoin” (worth ~$94 million at the time of Jicha’s indictment).
In addition to USI-Tech’s co-founders, an “an American USI-Tech distributor” is also cited in Jicha’s indictment.
Individual 1, an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, was an American USI-tech distributor who made numerous in-person and online presentations promoting USI-Tech alongside defendant Horst Jicha.
Promotion of USI-Tech was headed up by Mike Kiefer.
In addition to being a German national, Kiefer also reported died back in August (I know that’s the same date the USI-Tech indictments were filed but I’m chalking that up to a coincidence for now).
Either way we can rule Kiefer out as the “American USI-Tech distributor” cited in Jicha’s indictment.
Notable US nationals who promoted USI-Tech include Dan Hunt, Rodney Burton, Faith Sloan and Frank Calabro Jr.
Jicha’s indictment goes on to further narrow down the cited American USI-Tech distributor.
In or about August 2017, USI-Tech held a “USA Kickoff” at a hotel and casino in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by USI-Tech investors and potential investors.
The defendants Horst Jicha, Co-Conspirator 1 and Individual 1 all spoke at the event.
During the event, Jicha and Individual 1 assured the audience that USI-TEch was legal and was not a “scam” or a “Ponzi scheme”.
Individual 1, with Jicha standing by his side, told the audience, “Literally, we have been on the phone for hundred of hours, spent I don’t even know how much money, to make sure that everything is completely legal in the U.S.”
Individual 1 explained, “Horst and I went around the country and we searched out and found the very top SEC attorney … in the country. The very, very, best and the very, very top.”
Jicha and Individual 1 then showed the audience excerpts of an opinion letter written by this “very top SEC attorney”, purportedly verifying the legality of USI-Tech.
While USI-Tech had obtained an opinion letter from an attorney, this presentation misled the audience regarding the scope, breadth and premise of the legal opinion, and provided false assurances about the legality of the company’s operations.
As documented by BehindMLM, the cited USI-Tech legal opinion was from the law firm Hart & David.
The document amounted to Hart & David rubber-stamping securities fraud. Perhaps tellingly, Hart & David don’t exist anymore.
More importantly, footage of the event is still available and reveals “Individual 1” is Dan Hunt.
Dan and wife Patti Hunt used the money they stole through USI-Tech to fund “RV life” retirement.
The latest episode of the Hunts’ RV Life podcast was uploaded on December 27th, 2023.
It is unclear whether Dan and Patti Hunt are facing any USI-Tech related charges.
Getting back to Jicha’s indictment, filed in the Eastern District of New York;
Beginning in or around the Spring of 2017, Horst Jicha and his co-conspirators began aggressively promoting USI-Tech in the United States.
Jicha and his co-conspirators promoted USI-Tech both online and through in-person presentations that took place in the United States and targeted U.S. investors, including investors located in the Eastern District of New York.
Jicha’s indictment charges him with
- one count of securities fraud conspiracy
- one count of securities fraud
- one count of wire fraud conspiracy and
- one count of money laundering conspiracy
Forfeiture of Jicha’s USI-Tech ill-gotten gains is also sought.
BehindMLM is now tracking Jicha’s USI-Tech criminal case. Stay tuned for updates, along with any news on Ralf Gold and Joao Severino.
Unbelievable. I can only pray that he never sees the light of day. USI was brought to me by the Peyton’s in FLA. I wish them the same fate. Thanks for the news.
Meant Cynthia Roy Petition (not Peyton).
He should be lobotomized and castrated so he doesn’t procreate.
Hoping Justin Halladay gets a knock at the door too.
That scam was a bad one, coming on the heels of One Coin’s exposure.
I sniffed that one out but some of my friends lost about all their capital to these scammers. I hope the book gets thrown at every one of them.
Lost so much bitcoin and had so many bad nights trying to get my fund back. So pleased that finally these people will get what the deserve justice to all the misery they have caused around the world.
Assets should be frozen and distributed to all the people that got ripped off.
Finally!!..
Don’t forget Mike Klingler, Justin Verrengia & that other scrawny looking Israeli who now lives in Dubai.
Now this is great news!!
I am so pleasantly shocked that this finally happened. That was a very rough thing to go through.
How can we contact the prosecutors to express our thoughts on Horst. Of enough of us write the judge and prosecutors they will have to consider maximum sentences for his crimes.
Please help lock up this scum bag for as long as possible. He hurt countless families with zero regard to the lives he ruined.
Jicha’s case has only just begun. Sentencing is a while off.
The case is being handled by the DOJ. Best to contact them.
Horst Jicha charged: cnbc.com/2024/01/19/crypto-entrepreneur-charged-defrauding-investors-scam.html
Thanks for the update. I’ll see what I can dig up.
edit: Oh wait, I thought they got one of the other two. This is CNBC covering Jicha’s arrest and indictment.
Had a look at Jicha’s docket, he was released on $5 million bond. Next Status conference is scheduled for Feb 6th.
Please, explain what happened “this morning” in this 1-19-24 press release. Wasn’t it something new? I’m not familiar with court terminology.
justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/ceo-crypto-investment-platform-charged-multi-million-dollar-international-fraud-2
This is just the official press release announcing what was in the first link you posted…
Thanks, Okosh! What does “He was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Friday morning.” mean, from the first link?
He arrived in the US on a Saturday. I thought it meant that he was arraigned on 1-19-24.
Arraignment is the first appearance in court after an arrest.
There was a delay between Jicha’s arrest and his arraignment.
Got it. Thanks, Oz! Please, stay healthy. The world needs your important reporting.
<3
Can someone please tell me if Mr. Yicha was alone when he was taken to the Broward County Jail? Or were his wife Ewa Jicha and his daughter Celine Jicha with him?
I know from good sources that it was some kind of family trip or something 🙂 Sorry, so stupid, I just can’t stop laughing 🙂 I’d like to know if Ewa Jicha and Celine Jicha are now accompanying him in orange overalls? LOL
If not, their oversea assets should be immediately frozen and the stolen money should be distributed to all victims. There are so many of them. So please see what you can dig up and post it, please…
The arrest warrant was for Horst Jicha alone.
Thanks, Oz!
It means that the authorities are now at the earliest stage of the investigation and it will take some time to identify all the people involved.
Got it, so we have to be patient and hope that the FBI will investigate overseas as well, at some point.
While the other USI-Tech co-founders have also likely been indictment, indictments aren’t filed until investigations are concluded.
I’m happy to see this guy getting arrested.
I hope the Florida fraudsters Cynthia Petiton and her “army” hubby rot in hell along with Horst. thanks for the updates, Oz.
Ewa Jicha is not his wife.
He is married to Fatima Costa Jicha from Brazil. That’s where the money is.
In the interests of transparency:
Stephan Schulenberg of SBS Law got in touch about a half hour ago claiming he’s representing Ewa and Celine Jicha.
My initial reply pointed out that under US law someone’s personal rights aren’t violated by the mere mention of them. I then asked what year the divorce took place.
Citing non-existent laws aside, I figured there might be cause to censor Ewa and Celine from the comments out of courtesy if the divorce took place prior to USI-Tech (with a explanatory note).
If the divorce took place during or after USI-Tech however, that means Ewa and Celine in all likelihood were, knowingly or otherwise, financial beneficiaries of USI-Tech.
After sending that email and waiting for a reply (to which I haven’t received one yet), I ran a search on Horst’s docket for Ewa and Celine Jicha.
Turns out both Ewa and Celine Jicha co-signed Horst’s $5 million bond. Ewa Jicha is also Horst’s third-party custodian.
Seeing as Ewa and Celine have involved themselves in Horst’s criminal case, the way I see it they’ve waived any perceived right to privacy with respect to Horst’s conduct and his criminal case. I sent a second email to Schulenberg advising as much.
And because I know Ewa and Celine Jicha are likely to read this; Don’t waste your time hiring lawyers to hide your involvement in Horst’s criminal case.
Learn from your ex-husband/father. Dishonesty rarely works out in the long-term.
How desperate do you have to be to hire Schulenberg as your attorney?
Schulenberg will obfuscate, appeal to authority that doesn’t exist, twist, pick the facts he likes, ignore the others (“… co-signed Horst’s $5 million bond…”), play ad hominem, appeal to emotion (“beginning of her life”) and generally ignore reality (“Ewa Jicha is also Horst’s third-party custodian”) when it gets in the way of claiming a buck and who knows what else.
He must really be missing the days when he could party pool-side with Ruja and shut people up by bullying them.
Sad to be him.
When I read the names Schulenberg and Schenk, it reminds me spontaneously of what the :gerlachreport revealed years ago.
ibb.co/Xz70TN5