Hi, I got convinced by someone to invest in what I now think is a Crypto Ponzi Scheme Platform that said it could earn 10%+ a month in ROI. The person who convinced me didn't own the platform/company, they were simply a "Referral Marketer" that used that platform's "Referral Link" as apart of their Referral Program. The person would gain 5% of my daily profits from the Platform for referring me.
The platform has locked my money in there (which is allowed according to their T&C) + my profits have dwindled to 1% a month.
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I want to sue the person who referred me to this platform, but they think otherwise:
Their Argument
- They don't own the platform and are simply "affiliate marketers" for it by using the referral link
- They left the country and live elsewhere (but promoted this platform to me in my country)
My Argument
- They didn't have a financial services license (but Bitcoin in my country is not considered a financial product)
- They didn't have a registered company
Does this mean I could sue the person who referred me too? Or Could I only sue the company behind the actual ponzi platform?
Please let me know if I can sue this person + the costs, process, etc. And if it's worth it at all. I've invested $40,000 and my money is stuck on this platform.
You could argue that he's acting maliciously to mislead you into investing into a ponzi scheme. And since he's receiving a portion of what you invest, and he admits to being an affiliate, you could possibly be able to use that argument to your advantage to establish the concrete link between him and the ponzi in question.
Although, we have no idea what jurisdiction you are in, or what the legal system is like within that jurisdiction. So whether this is actually an offense or not is unknown.
I've heard of in the US lawsuits following the exit scam of Bitconnect, when a bunch of youtubers that were promoting the scheme apparently got sued (Trevon James, for example). I haven't heard much about the proceedings apart from the fact that a lawsuit was pending, though.
I personally would say that your chances of success is slim, and you'll need to invest high amounts of energy and funds into this (again, concrete numbers are unknown since we don't know what country you are in). So unless it's a big amount involved, I wouldn't bother, but rather try settle this privately.