| In SDNY
Stefan Qin Gets 90 Months After Kraken
& CoinBase Accounts Were Frozen
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
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UK - Honduras
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 15 – Back on December 23,
2020 as covered by Inner City
Press, an asset freeze against
Stefan Qin's Sigma Fund was
sought and obtained by the
U.S. Security and Exchange
Commission.
No defense lawyer
was present.
Inner City Press
covered and live tweeted it, here
and below (and added more on
Patreon here)
Now after
pleading guilty on February 4,
on September 15 Stefan He Quin
has been sentenced to 90
months in prison.
Inner
City Press put
the
Information /
complaint is
on Patreon here.
The US Attorney
for the SDNY previously
announced that "STEFAN HE QIN,
the founder of the Virgil
Sigma Fund LP (“Virgil Sigma”)
and the VQR Multistrategy Fund
LP (“VQR”), a pair of
cryptocurrency hedge funds in
New York, New York, with over
$100 million in investments,
was charged with one count of
securities fraud and pled
guilty today in Manhattan
federal court. For
years, QIN stole investor
money from Virgil Sigma and,
in December 2020, QIN tried to
steal investor money from VQR
to pay back his investors in
Virgil Sigma. QIN pled
guilty today before United
States District Judge Valerie
Caproni."
From December
2020: It's 7 pm and the SEC
has gotten an ex parte hearing
to freeze accounts, before
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Lorna G. Schofield.
"Qin, Virgil
Capital & Sigma Fund 'held
millions worth of digital
assets at 39 trading
platforms." SEC lawyer
Susan Lamarca said she spoke
with defendant's lawyer, who
said they would only appear if
required.
SEC: "This is ex
parte, to freeze assets."
SEC: "Qin
is a citizen and resident of
Australia and part-time
resident of New York. He is
currently believed to be in
Seoul, South Korea and owns
these LLCs through Virgil
Technologies LLC, domiciled in
the Cayman Islands."
SEC: "Qin
claims to use a proprietary
trading algorithm for the
Sigma Fund to generate better
returns that an investment in
Bitcoin." SEC asks:
"defendants to disgorge their
ill-gotten gains according to
proof, plus perjudgment
interest thereon."
SEC lawyer says
the assets are in CoinBase and
Kraken, who are temporarily
maintaining a compliance hold.
But it could end anytime. "It
won't last long."
SEC: we spoke
with both platforms. They
agreed to maintain the hold
for a couple of days.
Now Qin
knows
SEC lawyer: we've
spoken with a lawyer who
represents Qin in another
investigation. We reached out
to him. Judge Schofield: I am
prepared to enter the
temporary restraining order
and freeze the assets of the
entity defendants, and a
document preservation order
Judge Schofield:
I would not put the account
numbers in a public order.
Should I put it in a sealed
appendix?
SEC lawyer:
You do not need to put it in
an order. We may found other
accounts. Numbers are not
necessary at all.
More on
Patreon here.
***
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