On 9 December 2024, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint against Francier Obando Pinillo, accusing him of operating a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. Pinillo, through his unregistered entities, Solanofi, Solano Capital Investments and Solano Partners LTD, allegedly solicited funds from over 1,500 individuals, including members of his church, misappropriating approximately US$5.9 million in the process.
The complaint states that Pinillo allegedly used his businesses to promise guaranteed monthly profits of up to 34.9% through purported cryptocurrency trading and staking activities but no such trading took place. Instead, Pinillo misappropriated the funds for personal gain, using falsified account statements to deceive customers into believing their investments were growing exponentially.
Pinillo targeted financially vulnerable and unsophisticated individuals, leveraging his position as a pastor at a Spanish-speaking church in Pasco, Washington. Many of the victims were his congregants, whom he convinced to invest by falsely claiming to run a high-performing, automated cryptocurrency trading platform. To attract more participants, Pinillo added a multilevel marketing (MLM) element, offering customers a 15% “referral fee” for recruiting others into the scheme.
During the operation, Pinillo allegedly created an online dashboard that displayed fabricated account balances, showing massive returns on investments. One customer, for example, was led to believe their US$36,000 investment had grown to over US$1 million in under a year. In reality, Pinillo transferred over US$4 million of the funds to private wallets in Colombia and other unrelated accounts. No trading ever occurred, and all customer assets were misappropriated.
When customers began seeking to withdraw their funds, Pinillo offered false explanations. He claimed that technical issues with the Solanofi platform and the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX had frozen their assets. These claims were unfounded, as no customer assets were ever sent to FTX.
The US CFTC has charged Pinillo with violating Section 6(c)(1) of the United States Commodity Exchange Act and United States Regulation 180.1(a)(1)-(3), which prohibit manipulative and deceptive practices in commodity trading. Pinillo’s guaranteed profit claims and lack of registration with the US CFTC represent further violations of federal law.
To address the violations, the US CFTC is seeking a permanent injunction against Pinillo, barring him from trading or soliciting in commodity markets. It also requests civil monetary penalties, full restitution to affected customers, and disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains. Furthermore, the CFTC seeks to impose a lifetime trading ban on Pinillo and his entities.
(Source: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9015-24, https://www.cftc.gov/media/11626/enffrancierobandopinillocomplaint120924/download)
