In the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s first anti-fraud enforcement action involving bitcoin, a federal judge in New York has ordered bitcoin-denominated hedge fund CEO Nicholas Gelfman and his company, Gelfman Blueprint Inc. (GBI), to pay over $2.5 million in fines and restitution for operating a Ponzi scheme in which he claimed he could yield high returns, the CFTC announced Thursday.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York ordered GBI to pay $554,734.48 in restitution and $1.8 million in civil penalties. Castel ordered Gelfman himself to pay $492,064.53 in restitution and $177,501 in civil penalties.

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