Sheffield Lake businessman charged in alleged cryptocurrency trading scheme

Complaints filed Tuesday against Sheffield Lake businessman Michael Ackerman allege he scammed around 150 investors in a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading operation and used $7.5 million of investor funds for personal use. Complaints were filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Ackerman is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering by the U.S. Attorney's office. Many of the investors were doctors, the SEC said. One of Ackerman's business partners, who was not named in the complaint, won the trust of physicians because the partner also was a physician. The SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York's complaint identified Ackerman as a Sheffield Lake resident. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said he is a resident of Alliance. It was not immediately clear which city is his most recent address. "Allegedly touting monthly returns of over 15 percent, Michael Ackerman was able to raise over $35 million in investments for his fake cryptocurrency scheme," said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, in a press release. "He allegedly falsified documents representing to investors that his fund had a balance of over $315 million worth of cryptocurrencies, when in actuality, he had less than half a million dollars." According to the complaints, Ackerman also misrepresented what he was using investor funds for and how safe investor funds were. The alleged scam happened between July 2017 and December 2019, the complaints said. Ackerman is accused of using investor funds to buy a house, three cars, more than $600,000 in personal security services and more than $100,000 worth of jewelry at Tiffany & Co. "This was a classic fraud scheme with a digital twist, using cryptocurrency to take advantage of unsuspecting investors," said FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Michael McPherson in a press release.