On September 21st, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced the filing of charges against Nicholas Gelfman and Gelfman Blueprint, Inc. (the “Defendants”) for fraud, misappropriation, and issuing false account statements in connection with solicited investments in Bitcoin.  According to the allegations asserted by the CFTC, the Defendants operated a Ponzi scheme, misappropriated funds from investors, and took steps to conceal losses (including by staging a “hack” on its computer systems designed to conceal what were actually trading losses and depletion of funds due to misappropriation).

The enforcement action is notable for two reasons:
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