Forsage’s Russian founders have been indicted by the federal grand jury in Oregon district for being behind the global Ponzi and pyramid scheme that raised an amount of approximately $340 million from victim-investors. 

The four founders namely Vladimir Okhotnikov (Lado), Olena Oblamska (Lola Ferrari), Mikhail  Sergeev (Mike Mooney/Gleb/Gleb Million), and Sergey Maslakov ‘allegedly’ attempted to sell Forsage as a decentralized matrix project based on network marketing and through “smart contracts”, which are self -executing contracts on the blockchain. 

As per the indictment, the founders have promoted Forsage to the public through social media as a legitimate and profitable business opportunity but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. It was a Ponzi and pyramid investment scheme run by the defendants that stole millions from DeFi investors worldwide through Forsage.

The defendants allegedly created smart contracts connecting their Ponzi DeFi crypto scheme to the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Tron blockchains. As a result of evaluating Forsage’s computer code, it is claimed that once an investor bought a “slot” in a good Forsage contract, the good contract diverted the investor’s funds to different Forsage traders, resulting in previous traders making payments with funds received from subsequent merchants.

The Forsage’s Founders were each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and if found guilty, they will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted. A joint investigation is currently being conducted by the FBI Portland Field Office, the US Postal Inspection Service, and HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force.

Forsage scheme victims are encouraged to visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/united-states-v-vladimir-okhotnikov-et-al/ to identify themselves as victims and learn more about their rights.