United Kingdom authorities have officially shut down a crypto academy, claiming the founder used it to “recklessly persuade” people to partake in loss-making investment schemes, including an alleged $1.7 billion crypto “Ponzi.”

According to the United Kingdom government agency The Insolvency Service, Amey Finance Academy offered advice to people looking to invest in various cryptocurrency schemes. However, some customers lost their entire investments based on misleading promises made by the firm’s sole director and shareholder.

In WhatsApp messages seen by investigators, Amey allegedly told one customer that their investments were a “100 certy” and to “trust me bro.”

Amey allegedly told another customer that their investment wouldn’t fall below 90% — but they ended up losing everything.

“Desmond Amey used Amey Finance Academy to recklessly persuade individuals to invest in cryptocurrency schemes and mislead them about the risks of doing so,” said Mark George, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service.

It comes two weeks after the Insolvency Service secured a winding-up order against Amey’s firm in the U.K. High Court on April 30.

One of the cryptocurrency schemes promoted by the firm was HyperFund — later known as HyperVerse — an alleged Ponzi scheme that went unchecked by Australian authorities for nearly two years.

Two of the lead operators behind HyperVerse have since been charged by the United States securities regulator, which claims the firm ran a $1.7 billion fraud scheme.

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However, Amey’s failure to provide up-to-date accounting records meant the Insolvency Service couldn’t establish the true relationship between Amey Finance Academy and HyperVerse.

This lack of transparency left the Insolvency Service with no option but to seek a wind-up order, George explained.

“The public deserve protection from companies trading in an opaque and objectionable manner which is why we applied to have Amey Finance Academy shut down.”

About $6.3 million (5 million Great Britain pounds) passed through Amey Finance Academy’s bank account between October 2019 and March 2022, but the firm’s assets and liabilities weren’t able to be ascertained.

Amey’s firm launched in December 2018, claiming to be “an established and successful independent consultancy providing a plethora of financial services.”

Cointelegraph reached out to Desmond Amey for comment.

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