Two EmpiresX victims have filed a civil class-action in Florida.

That’s on top of the CFTC’s and SEC’s civil regulatory lawsuits against EmpiresX.

What’s interesting is the Florida state court hearing the class-action has appointed an EmpiresX Receiver.

The CFTC and SEC EmpiresX case dockets came up today on BehindMLM’s calendar.

There wasn’t anything new on the CFTC case docket. A filing request more time to file a Joint Scheduling Report on the SEC docket caught my attention though, and that led me to this:

Defendant Empires Consulting Corp. is presently under a Florida state court receivership.

This was the first I’d read about a Florida state lawsuit, and certainly the first I’d heard of an EmpiresX Receivership.

I pulled up the case in Florida and found a class-action filed against EmpiresX on June 10th.

Class-action Plaintiffs Eric Villanueva and Francisco Gonzalez are both Florida residents.

Plaintiff Eric Villanueva joined EMPIRES-X in August 2021 through an EMPIRES-X recruiter.

His initial investment was in the amount of $ 9,500; he made additional contributions through April 2022 totaling $25,000.

He has not received any payments relating to his investment from EMPIRES-X DEFENDANTS.

Plaintiff Francisco Gonzalez joined EMPIRES-X in October 2021 through an EMPIRES-X recruiter. His initial investment was in the amount of $ 4,200 and made no additional contributions.

He has not received any payments relating to his investment from EMPIRES-X DEFENDANTS.

Who recruited Villanueva and Gonzales into EmpiresX is not disclosed.

Named defendants in the class-action are Empires X Corp, Empires Consulting Corp, EmpX Management LLC, Emerson S. Pires, Flavio M. Goncalves and Joshua David Nicholas.

This is a classic, but unfortunate, story about how a well-orchestrated cryptocurrency ponzi scheme targeted vulnerable victims here in South Florida.

These experienced criminals—who have recently fled and are on the run with Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ money—were only able to steal tens of millions of dollars with the willing assistance of other “reputable” accomplices.

CoinBase is named as a related non-party. The crypto exchange is accused of assisting EmpiresX launder a “substantial portion” of invested funds.

Based on the high volume of activity taking place through EMPIRES-X’s and EMPIRES-X DEFENDANTS’ COINBASE accounts, COINBASE should have been alerted as to the suspicious activity and should have promptly investigated the accounts.

Notwithstanding the regulatory requirements COINBASE faced as a Money Services Business under the FinCEN division of the U.S. Treasury Department, COINBASE turned a blind eye to the obvious red flags.

COINBASE failed to verify that the cryptocurrency assets—including Bitcoin, Ether, and USD Tether—were actually derived from legitimate sources, which is something that could have easily been verified.

In fact, under the Bank Secrecy Act, COINBASE has a duty to inquire and/or report if suspicious acti

🤖 Quick Answer

What is the current legal status of EmpiresX regarding receivership?
A Florida state court has appointed a receiver for EmpiresX (Empires Consulting Corp.) following a civil class-action lawsuit filed by two victims. This receivership exists alongside separate civil regulatory lawsuits filed by the CFTC and SEC against the company, representing multiple legal proceedings addressing the alleged fraudulent scheme.

Why is the appointment of an EmpiresX receiver significant?
The receivership appointment indicates formal court intervention to manage EmpiresX's assets and operations during litigation. This development adds to existing federal regulatory action, suggesting coordinated legal efforts at both state and federal levels to address victim claims and protect remaining assets from further dissipation or misappropriation.

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