A Florida man is facing up to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to committing financial fraud using a crypto Ponzi scheme and making away with approximately $100 million in investment funds. In a statement released on Sept. 8, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) identified Joshua David Nicholas as the "head trader" for EmpiresX, a firm founded in 2020 and was publicized to investors as a legitimate cryptocurrency trading and investment platform. Nicholas admitted that he "fraudulently promoted EmpiresX by making numerous misrepresentations regarding, among other things, a purported proprietary trading bot and fraudulent'guaranteed' returns to investors and prospective investors in the company," according to the statement. Nicholas reportedly disclosed that he and his co-conspirators told investors that they had a trading bot, an algorithm based on AI technology that places trades and whose goal was to maximize profitability for investors. "EmpiresX operated a Ponzi scheme by paying earlier investors with money obtained from later EmpiresX investors," the DOJ noted in the statement.