Former directors and investors of a Korean-American cryptocurrency investment firm have come forward to claim fraud.
On April 22, seven investors, including four former directors of VMS USA (Vehicle Mining System), held a press conference in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and claimed that VMS, which recruited cryptocurrency investors in Southern California two years ago, was an illegal Ponzi scheme.
Investors said they invested somewhere from $3,000 to more than $100,000 per person in VMS coins and investment products. However, the value of the coins has since plummeted, and trading has been suspended.
“VMS CEO and Vice CEO Andy Park (Korean name Park Garam) and Grace Hwang, who were active in Southern California, created a coin called VMS, then listed it in the U.S. and scammed Koreans (including Korean Americans) in LA and elsewhere, claiming that it could go up to $10,” said Jamie Kim, a former director of VMS. “In particular, the two of them engaged in multi-level marketing practices, such as giving investors the title of director and asking relatives and friends to invest. Thus, many people are suffering (from the scam).”
According to investors, VMS began recruiting investors in Seattle and Southern California two years ago. The company promoted a patented system that mines bitcoin while driving a vehicle and listed its own cryptocurrency, VMS Coin, on Singapore’s cryptocurrency exchange LBank, they said.
“They recruited investors by offering seniors in their 60s and above $2,000 in exchange for $3,000 worth of VMS coins to Andy Park,” said another former director who wished to remain anonymous. “VMS coins, which were 30 cents at the beginning of the LBank listing, have now plummeted to 0.0002 cents and are difficult to trade,” said another victim.
“When it became difficult to recruit investors for VMS Coin, CEO Andy Park and Vice CEO Grace Hwang lured many people with the promise of dividend interest (7-14%) for ‘Bitcoin computer mining investment (Mining Staking referral), Bitcoin investment using solar panels (Solar Mining System).’ Even if you want to get your money back, you can’t,” they claimed.
Investors argued that “In the United States alone, we estimate that more than 200 people invested between $1,000 and $10,000 per person. To prevent further damage, about a dozen victims have requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate.”
“We are a company that mines bitcoin with patent registrations in Korea and the U.S.,” VMS CEO Andy Park said in a phone call with the Korea Daily, adding, “The people at the press conference signed (the contracts) by hand. There is no other company on the planet that returns the principal of the investment.” Park added that he will hold a press conference on April 24 to refute the allegations.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM, JUNHAN PARK [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
