A Tennessee couple who exploited their real estate connections to bilk investors out of millions through a fake crypto trading scheme has been ordered to pay over $6.8 million in restitution and penalties.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Thursday that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee entered a consent order against Michael and Amanda Griffis, Clarksville real estate agents who operated the fraudulent "Blessings of God Thru Crypto" commodity pool from 2021 to 2023.
The couple was first charged by the CFTC in July 2023.
The regulator said the couple used their real estate business connections to persuade 145 investors to hand over $6.5 million, promising the money would generate profits through crypto futures trading on what they claimed was the legitimate Apex platform under the supervision of the mysterious "Coach Wendy."
Under the court order, the couple must pay more than $5.5 million back to the victims and face an additional $1.35 million “civil monetary penalty.”
The Griffises funneled money into a sham platform modeled on an overseas exchange, while the true identity of “Coach Wendy” remains unknown to investigators.
Over $4 million was funneled offshore after hitting the fake exchange, while the rest covered the couple’s personal debts and expenses. Only about $855,000 was paid back to participants in Ponzi-style payouts, the CFTC said.
The ruling also imposes lifetime bans preventing them from commodity trading or CFTC registration, while barring future violations of federal commodity laws.
This case is part of a troubling pattern of fraudsters exploiting trust within community groups, like a Denver pastor and his wife that were recently ordered to repay $3.39 million after raising millions for worthless church tokens. Other examples include a Long Island man hit with a $228 million CFTC judgment, and a nine-year prison sentence for a Ponzi scheme operator that preyed on his Haitian church community.
In the latest case, investors may have ignored warning signs that could have indicated the fraud in question.
"An exchange website without any registered company details is a clear red flag that users could have noticed," Karan Pujara, founder of scam defense platform ScamBuzzer, told Decrypt.
Pujara said fraudsters often chase “quick money,” aiming to leave before being caught—and warned that in crypto, once funds are lost, they can move “across borders quickly,” making recovery difficult.
Even regulated platforms can fail investors, as seen with FTX, which held licenses but still misused customer funds, he noted.
Pujara advised investors to spread risk by using multiple exchanges and hardware wallets, noting, “Those who diversified kept their losses manageable, while those who concentrated all their funds in one place faced major losses.”
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