Investors are alleging that a fraudulent online trading school based in downtown Denver has teamed up with a bogus cryptocurrency exchange in Cherry Creek, resulting in a loss of $860,000.
Brian Firestone, from Florida, recounts that he was approached in December by someone named John Smith at the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center. Smith purportedly offered to teach Firestone about cryptocurrency trading and handed him $500.
The Alpha Stock Investment Training Center suggested he trade crypto via Coinbridge Partners. This company, located at 950 S. Cherry St., claimed to have raised $10 million from 600 investors last year, even though its now-defunct website displayed a different address at 1660 Lincoln St.
In a lawsuit filed on June 11, Firestone stated, “Coinbridge is truly a completely fake exchange.”
The Alpha Stock Investment used a method referred to as “Professor.” This involved making a transaction in conjunction with Firestone and others, where they would click “Student” at 5 PM to confirm the trade, prompting the Coinbridge account to buy or sell cryptocurrency accordingly.
Firestone mentioned that the initial $500 gift quickly turned into a $55,000 balance. In January, he invested $50,000, and shortly after, his Coinbridge account purportedly skyrocketed to $2 million.
On February 8, he texted Smith, expressing gratitude: “Professor, I have to thank you. My results were amazing. Thank you for letting me do this in today’s deal. This is so exciting!”
However, after a bad transaction, his account balance plummeted to just $12,000. Undeterred, he decided to invest an additional $800,000 with Alpha Stock Investment, which involved borrowing $470,000 in cash and $330,000 from the school. Soon, his account balance claimed to have soared to $24.5 million.
The tipping point arrived on March 9, when he attempted to invest in cryptocurrency USDT, pegged to the US dollar. Unfortunately, he found that he couldn’t confirm the transaction.
“I can’t close it,” he messaged Smith urgently, followed by a panicked, “I clpsoe it.”
Later, he was informed that a “system error” had obstructed the transaction and, mysteriously, erased $24.5 million from his Coinbridge account. His lawsuit contends that Alpha Stock Investment “deliberately blocks his trade and again emptys his Coinbridge account.”
Not ready to give up, two days later Firestone borrowed $1 million from the training center and resumed trading. Initially, his account balance displayed $6.6 million. However, the $330,000 loan was paid back, but when he attempted to pay the remaining amount in US dollars, he faced issues as the school didn’t accept crypto as payment. Consequently, on May 1, ASITC closed its Coinbridge account.
According to a recent lawsuit filed in federal court in Denver, Firestone has paid ASITC and Coinbridge a total of $861,570 between January and March. Reflecting on his experience, he now suspects that all aspects—signals, profits, and losses—were fabricated.
In a separate lawsuit, Raymond Torres, affiliated with ASITC and Coinbridge, is accused of fraud and theft, with claims that “ASITC was a fraudulent scheme designed to extract as much money as possible from plaintiffs without delivering any value in return.”
Firestone’s lawyer in New York City, Frank Schirripa, did not reply to requests for comment.
Attempts to reach ASITC and Coinbridge partners have been unsuccessful. The email for ASITC is no longer operational, and the phone number listed for Coinbridge has been disconnected. Notably, this is not the same company as Coin Bridge Partner in Wyoming, which is involved in operating Bitcoin ATMs.
As CEO Manny Rivera stated, “This isn’t us and we don’t tolerate what they allegedly did.”
