Stephan Morgenstern, the alleged German con artist behind Futurenet, has been requested to be deported by Spanish authorities. In a multi-level marketing and digital asset Ponzi scheme, Morgenstern and his accomplices are accused of defrauding investors in Poland, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and other nations out of nearly $29 million.
In 2014, Morgenstern and Roman Ziemian, another co-founder, established Futurenet. According to the company, investors would purchase digital advertising packages from them and resell them to others for a profit. In a pyramid scheme-like arrangement, Futurenet paid substantial commissions to investors who brought new customers in.
In addition to the digital ad packages, Futurenet launched Futurocoin, its digital asset, in 2018, but it collapsed shortly after launch.
It all came crumbling down when Polish authorities declared the company a pyramid scheme. Korean authorities followed suit, accusing Ziemian and Morgenstern of defrauding nearly 1,000 Korean investors for millions of dollars. Interpol soon got involved and issued a Red Notice against the two.
This Red Notice finally caught up with them in November, with Ziemian the first to get arrested in Italy. Morgenstern was detained in Greece later as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai. He was alleged to have opened a luxurious car garage in Dubai.
According to a report by Greek outlet E-Thessalia, the Greek police are now considering extraditing the 62-year-old German to Spain to face fraud charges.
Korean outlet Khan further reports that Korean police have frozen assets worth KRW160 billion ($123 million) from the suspects.
“We plan to cooperate with Greece, Italy, and Poland to take over the suspects and investigate them according to the case's priority. We plan to make active efforts so that a large part of the 160 billion won in crime proceeds can be returned to domestic victims,” a representative for South Korea’s police stated.
