Former BitConnect Promoter John Bigatton Convicted in Australia

[ABCbits]

Former BitConnect Promoter John Bigatton Convicted in Australia

John Bigatton, the Australian promoter of the now-defunct crypto exchange platform BitConnect, has been convicted by the Sydney District Court for providing unlicensed financial advice.

Bigatton was sentenced to a three-year recognizance of good behavior and disqualified from managing corporations for five years on Friday, according to court records and a statement from the country’s corporate regulator on Sunday... Read more here.


I didn't expect read any news related with BitConnect, since it happened many years ago. The punishment seems to be light, although i expect some people would never trust his financial advice again. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

[Zed0X]

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The punishment seems to be light, although i expect some people would never trust his financial advice again. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Yeah, a slap on the wrist but I agree that his reputation is definitely ruined after getting heavily involved with the ponzi scheme. After he serves his sentence, I'm pretty sure his past will continue to hunt him even if he tries to start fresh/honest.

[Lucius]

Yeah, a slap on the wrist but I agree that his reputation is definitely ruined after getting heavily involved with the ponzi scheme. After he serves his sentence, I'm pretty sure his past will continue to hunt him even if he tries to start fresh/honest.

His reputation can be damaged/destroyed to some extent, but people remember very badly, and forget even faster, so in 5+ years he can try again with something new that will once again attract masses of gullible people all over the world. In addition, he can always be the mastermind of the operation, and choose someone completely different as a public figure - that's what those who have problems with their reputation do.

Punishment (if it can be called that at all) is more motivating than it should have its public purpose - which is to deter others from trying something similar.

[Stompix]

His reputation can be damaged/destroyed to some extent, but people remember very badly, and forget even faster, so in 5+ years he can try again with something new that will once again attract masses of gullible people all over the world.

Kiyosaki has been giving the wrong advice to people in seminars for a decade, and look, he's still an idol, the stupid mofo advised everyone to buy real estate right before the crash, he successfully predicted every stock jump by screaming sell and there are still people dumb enough to pay to listen to him.

Five years from now this guy will come to a stage and scream buy Bitcoin and someone will cheer and claim he is a financial advisor with decades of experience.

[Husires]

It seems that the imprisonment was because he provided unlicensed financial advice and not because of the financial advice. He tried to claim that it was not financial advice, but the court ruled against him based on the substance of his actions and he pleaded guilty.
These provisions may extend to some owners of blogs and YouTube channels who may host celebrities or adopt advertising and promotion of these services and provide financial advice.

[Zed0X]

Yeah, a slap on the wrist but I agree that his reputation is definitely ruined after getting heavily involved with the ponzi scheme. After he serves his sentence, I'm pretty sure his past will continue to hunt him even if he tries to start fresh/honest.

His reputation can be damaged/destroyed to some extent, but people remember very badly, and forget even faster, so in 5+ years he can try again with something new that will once again attract masses of gullible people all over the world. In addition, he can always be the mastermind of the operation, and choose someone completely different as a public figure - that's what those who have problems with their reputation do.

I see what you're saying but, then again, someone will still recognize him and point out what he has done in the past. He might get a few deals here and there but I doubt it would be something huge as before. About being the mastermind, he could pull that off for a time. At some point, there will be someone who will dig and expose everything.

[TomPluz]

I didn't expect read any news related with BitConnect, since it happened many years ago. The punishment seems to be light, although i expect some people would never trust his financial advice again. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Yes, the sentence can be very light and it can be because he was just another promoter of BITCONNECT and not really someone behind the scam. This ls a big lesson to all of us not to participate and promote clearly scam projects because once they will explode we can be facing legal difficulties. I am not sure if Bitconnect's founder Satish Kumbhani who was indicted in February 2022 is still at large or already in prison. I was actually one of the many victims of Bitconnect...good thing my sense of danger got in at that time and I got out just in time before its collapse. Ponzi schemes using cryptocurrency should be purged out of the industry though I have to admit this can be a very difficult task as this same story is being repeated every now and then.

[ABCbits]

Yeah, a slap on the wrist but I agree that his reputation is definitely ruined after getting heavily involved with the ponzi scheme. After he serves his sentence, I'm pretty sure his past will continue to hunt him even if he tries to start fresh/honest.

His reputation can be damaged/destroyed to some extent, but people remember very badly, and forget even faster, so in 5+ years he can try again with something new that will once again attract masses of gullible people all over the world.

There's nothing we can do if such people don't bother search his name on google search, which currently shows about him plead guilty or involved on ponzi scheme. Although it's different case if he managed to change his legal name in legal manner.

[Lucius]

Kiyosaki has been giving the wrong advice to people in seminars for a decade, and look, he's still an idol, the stupid mofo advised everyone to buy real estate right before the crash, he successfully predicted every stock jump by screaming sell and there are still people dumb enough to pay to listen to him.

Yes, every now and then his name appears on BTT and people still take him seriously, which only proves that if you say "BTC will be worth $2 million", you have an audience that will worship you not because you are telling the truth, but because of what they want to hear.

I see what you're saying but, then again, someone will still recognize him and point out what he has done in the past. He might get a few deals here and there but I doubt it would be something huge as before. About being the mastermind, he could pull that off for a time. At some point, there will be someone who will dig and expose everything.

Who knows, maybe we are wrong and the man will learn from everything that what he did was wrong and will continue with an honest life. However, it is very difficult for such people to change, not because they do such things only for money, but it is a kind of addiction to the excitement that comes from deceiving people and profiting in an easy way.

There's nothing we can do if such people don't bother search his name on google search, which currently shows about him plead guilty or involved on ponzi scheme. Although it's different case if he managed to change his legal name in legal manner.

If you have enough money, you can change your appearance, not just your name. Such people usually manage to create a secret stash that awaits them when they get out of prison, and I sincerely doubt that this is not the case here.

[robelneo]

Its good that they convict one of the biggest scam in the Crypto world, I agree the penalty is very light but the conviction will prove that he committed a sin and this will cast a bad reputation on what ever business he wants to set up.

There are still so many scams committed by developers if they are known by their identity they should be persecuted so that everyone will know that you cannot escape from being convicted if you scam investors in Cryptocurrency.

[NotATether]

Back in the day, when scammers and shills were officially called "promoters" by the media...

Does anyone remember this guy?



I know shills generally want people to get in on their scam, but the Bitconnect shills were insane back then.

Kiyosaki has been giving the wrong advice to people in seminars for a decade, and look, he's still an idol, the stupid mofo advised everyone to buy real estate right before the crash, he successfully predicted every stock jump by screaming sell and there are still people dumb enough to pay to listen to him.

So he's a reverse Cramer now It's just that he's actually smart enough to inverse trade himself every time he tells people something silly, before the train leaves the station.

[pakhitheboss]

Back in 2017 Bitconnect had a community that they blindly followed it. Every sensible crypto enthusiast knew that it was a Ponzi scheme disguised as a cryptocurrency investment platform. Why did it took 7 years for this John to get convicted? I thought that those responsible would have been already behind the bars. I to think that the sentence is not that harsh and this guy should have been brought to justice earlier.

[ABCbits]

Back in the day, when scammers and shills were officially called "promoters" by the media...

Does anyone remember this guy?

Even those who don't own any coin/token probably still remember that guy, due to amount of the memes.

Why did it took 7 years for this John to get convicted? I thought that those responsible would have been already behind the bars. I to think that the sentence is not that harsh and this guy should have been brought to justice earlier.

The court record claim due to the case complexity.

Suffice to say that I am satisfied that the delay is neither the Offender’s nor the Crown’s fault. Rather, it is the consequence of the inevitable complexities involved in a criminal prosecution of this type of offence involving, as it did, the marshalling of enormous amounts of documentary material into a coherent and manageable form so as to be sensibly presented to a jury.

[Faisal2202]

I didn't expect read any news related with BitConnect, since it happened many years ago. The punishment seems to be light, although i expect some people would never trust his financial advice again. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

I don't think the punishment is light because 3 years seems to be less but that's a lot of time for a person to learn his lesson. BTW I am amazed to know that to give financial advice in Australia you have to get a license before or it's just in order to set up a finance advisory agency you have to first register it and that's true I agree with it.

Overall, people should not follow other's advice blindly, I checked the story because its new to me, its seems that people were so convinced by him that they took loans to accumulate BCC so they could get other investment opportunities along the profit from BCC as well. This is just too good to be true.

[yhiaali3]

I remember the story of Bitconnect well. I was still at the beginning of my acquaintance with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and I remember that it made a lot of noise at the time and its price rose significantly due to great promotion and huge advertising. Then after that it turned out to be a fraudulent project and it disappeared.

It is strange that this sad story has not ended yet. Although John Bigaton’s punishment is not large, I hope that it will be a deterrent to promoters who think about promoting fraudulent projects in exchange for money. For example, there are many celebrities who promoted the FTX exchange for money.