On 1 July 2021, the operator of the alleged Bitcoin money facility“Bitcoin Pension” was arrested by federal police. The man is under urgent suspicion of investment fraud, as announced by an official press release five days later. The Erding Criminal Investigation Department and the Bavarian Cybercrime Central Office (ZCB) had been investigating for some time beforehand.
An arrest warrant had already been issued weeks before. Now the 48-year-old was about to embark on a journey to South America. At Frankfurt airport, however, the Federal Police were able to arrest him and his companion in time (the 54-year-old woman is now also under investigation). Later, a flat in the Karlsruhe area was searched and evidence was seized.
The day after the arrest, the existing arrest warrant was executed by the investigating judge in Frankfurt. The suspect, who already had a criminal record, was suspected of being a flight risk. Since then, he has been held in a correctional facility. The joint investigation by the Erdinger police and the Bavarian Cybercrime Centre is continuing.
Bitcoin Pension – operator arrested, investors fear for their money
Between August 2017 and August 2020, the suspect allegedly advertised the alleged investment“Bitcoin Pension” with aggressive marketing (including on his own YouTube channel). Basically, it was about an investment in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. At least 0.1 Bitcoins (BTC) should be invested in each case.
However, an amount of at least 1 BTC was recommended. Allegedly, slightly more than half of each deposit was intended for expansion (invested in a so-called mining facility for the mining of Bitcoins in Sweden). The rest, according to the suspect, was for hedging purposes and was in a separate Bitcoin account, which the investors allegedly had access to.
A payout of 2 to 5 Bitcoins in 2025 was allegedly agreed upon. By July 2019, over 50 people allegedly deposited a total of more than 62 Bitcoins. According to the date of the respective deposit, this corresponded to a total value of almost EUR 400,000 (on the day of the arrest, it was almost EUR 1,800,000).
According to the current state of investigation, this is a case of investment fraud based on Bitcoins. According to the authorities, clients were defrauded of their money. It is said that“Bitcoin Pension” was never about investing the capital as agreed and in the interests of the investors.
Bitcoin Pension – already offline for months
At the latest in the wake of the arrest, the whereabouts of the deposited money seems rather uncertain to some investors. But there were worrying signals even earlier. Long before the arrest, more than half a year before, the company’s website went offline. Since then, www.bitcoin-pension.com can no longer be accessed.
The suspect published a statement on the social network Facebook. In it, he justified the shutdown of the Bitcoin Pension website. The reputation of the company had been permanently damaged. Therefore, all major investors would have abruptly withdrawn. Two videos are said to have been the main triggers.
One was related to a former partner who had allegedly tried to blackmail him. The other one allegedly shows a celebrity of the crypto scene, who is said to have called the suspect a fraudster.
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