Golden Finance reported that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that a U.S. federal court ordered a fine and compensation of more than $130 million to the Brazilian founder of the illegal cryptocurrency investment platform EmpiresX. On February 4, U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga imposed permanent bans, financial penalties and other legal actions against Empires X founder Emerson Pires, Flavio Goncalves and his partner Joshua Nicholas. Empires Consulting operates a fraudulent investment program, EmpiresX, which falsely promises high returns to investors, according to court documents. Pires and Goncalves are accused of obtaining at least $40 million from victims through fake cryptocurrency advertising.