By 
Story by TIM SULLIVAN
Three Hidalgo County residents are in federal custody after being indicted in a multimillion dollar cryptocurrency theft and fraud scheme.
The federal indictment, obtained by the McAllen Monitor, says the trio conspired to create a cryptocurrency company and recruit investors for the purposes of cheating them, and to also defraud the IRS by not reporting the proceeds from the investors’ crypto purchases.
Investigators say the company called “Timi” was never fully developed, but from 2017 through 2019, the three suspects received more than $3.8 million, which they spent on luxury items for themselves.
In federal custody are two men, Oscar Zarate and Wilfred Gerard Lowe. The name of the third co-conspirator has not been released.
(Image credit: Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
