A citizen was held accountable in a $45 million metaverse fraud that inflated trillion-dollar savings in Las Vegas

May 23, 2023: On Friday, Federal lawyers alleged a Nevada man helped defraud 10,000 investors out of over $45 million by touting a fake metaverse project with its crypto token that would be sold for trillions of dollars.

A 57-year-old Las Vegas resident, Bryan Lee, was named in a superseding indictment regarding his involvement in an alleged investment fraud scheme, CoinDeal. Lee was charged with theories, mail fraud, wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions. Accusations in the broader case date back to June of last year.

Lee worked alongside three other individuals to convince investors Cointhat Deal was a legitimate family of businesses working on tomato reality products, federal prosecutors alleged. Lee and his co-conspirators also stated that they were in discussion with a potential “consortium of rich buyers,” according to the indictment.

CoinDeal’s promoters stated to investors the funds were required to pay for operating expenses until the sale was started, with Lee and his co-conspirators promising significant returns. In reality, the prosecutors said alleged fraudsters spent lavishly on luxury cars and real estate, pr

e superseding indictment, the conspirators falsely advertised the names of two billionaires as part of the potential buying company. Billionaire-1 is the founder and executive chairman of an “online retailing firm,” and Billionaire-2 is the owner and CEO of an “electric car company.”

Lee performed at the direction of Neil Chandran, who “held himself out as the CEO” of the conglomerate. Alongside Michael Glaspie, a Florida man who helped hold the investor funds, prosecutors said.

Lee was not after in a January U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. Still, Chandran and Glaspie were charged alongside five others for their parts in the CoinDeal investment idea with the unregistered offer and sale of securities.

Prosecutors have held another unnamed co-conspirator, Individual-1, for allegedly raising and laundering money for Chandran, and the SEC charged a Nevada man, Garry Davidson, who matches the description of Individual-1.

Chandran was arrested and held accountable in June 2022, while Glaspie pleaded accountable to wire fraud.

Chandran was stated as a “recidivist securities law violator and convicted felon” in the SEC complaint. The SEC alleged that his backers “targeted unsophisticated investors,” claiming his technology would sell for “trillions of dollars” to the unreal billionaire-backed consortium.