In a significant legal ruling, a federal court has mandated that Abner Alejandro Tinoco and his entity, Kikit & Mess Investments LLC, must disburse more than $31 million due to their involvement in forex and cryptocurrency fraud. The ruling dictates restitution amounting to $6.2 million, disgorgement of $6.3 million, and a civil penalty of $18.8 million. Tinoco and his company deceived 199 victims by diverting over $7.2 million of client funds towards personal expenses rather than the promised investments. Earlier, a permanent injunction had been issued against Tinoco and Kikit & Mess, preventing them from further breaches of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. Furthermore, Tinoco faced criminal charges, pled guilty, and received a sentence of 84 months in prison, along with three years of supervised release. He was also directed to provide $9 million in restitution.
