An alleged German crypto fraudster has violated the terms of his house arrest after tampering with his ankle bracelet and making a run for it.
USI-Tech CEO Horst Jicha is on the run after tampering with his ankle bracelet. The German national was arrested on December 23, 2023, in Miami, Florida, when he entered US borders after five years to vacation in the city. Authorities took him in due to his alleged swindling of $180 million through the mining and trading activities USI-Tech offered. Jicha promised 1% returns daily to investors.
He was last seen in the US in 2018 when US authorities sent him cease-and-desist letters regarding his scheme, which caused him to flee.
Jicha’s Family Guaranteed a $5 Million Bond for His House Arrest
An October 9 court filing mentions that he “absconded in violation of his pretrial conditions.” Pretrial Services alerted the government about 12 hours after his ankle bracelet went shut, seeking an immediate arrest warrant in the process. Jicha, now a fugitive, was serving home detention in New York with a $5 million bond guaranteed by his partner and children.
Source: Courtlistener
“Court records show that Jicha’s $5 million release bond was guaranteed and signed in January by his domestic partner Ewa Jicha, as well as by Jicha’s adult son and his three daughters, and by the boyfriend of one of Jicha’s daughters and by the boyfriend’s brother and father, court records show,” a CNBC report read.
“There’s a very active investigation underway to capture him,” a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, John Marzulli, told CNBC. In preparing for a situation like this, the US government confiscated his German passport in December. So, it may prove difficult for Jicha to flee the US.
Jicha’s case is scheduled for March 31, as he will go to trial to defend himself against multiple charges of securities violations and fraud. According to the authorities, Jicha scammed users of 1,774 bitcoin and 28,589 Ether. Those assets amount to over $180 million at today’s prices. Those funds are allegedly tied to Jicha’s wallet address on a crypto exchange.
The German national founded USI-Tech in Europe in 2017 and marketed its services to investors in the US just a few months later. He shut down the operation in 2018 as US authorities began scrutinizing the scheme. The fugitive used investors’ criticism as a scapegoat for closing the operation, stating their misleading comments as the cause. Investors could not access their funds on the platform since.
