By admin 
A federal court case accusing a former pastor of convincing members of his church and others to invest nearly $8.4 million in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme has been expanded to add two more defendants.
Read more Swimmer dies after going missing at California beach, sheriff’s office says
A new indictment filed last week against Francier Obando Pinillo, the pastor and owner of Tiempos De Poder in Pasco, Washington, accuses him of 25 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and participating in an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The initial indictment filed in November 2024 accused Pinillo of $5.9M in fraud.
The two additional defendants in the new indictment are accused of creating the cryptocurrency investment scheme they called “Solano Fi” in Colombia in August 2021.
One of the two new defendants in the case, Chad Devin Neuburger, also known as Douglas White, was arrested in Richland Thursday and has pleaded innocent. He is a citizen of the United States who lived for periods in Colombia.
The third defendant is Yey Brandon Llanos Moreno, also known as Brandon Llanos and Eric De Silva. He is a resident of Colombia and federal court records do not indicate that he has been arrested.
Moreno and Neuburger are accused of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and participating in an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Pinillo, who is from Colombia and is not a U.S. citizen, invested in Solano Fi in September 2021 but then transitioned to promoting and profiting from the scheme, according to court documents.
He told Llanos and Neuburger that he had access to a large community with members who could invest, but that he wanted to be named chief executive officer for Solano Fi and earn a commission on all funds deposited.
Pastor pitched investments
Potential investors in Solano Fi were promised large and guaranteed monthly compounding returns.
Some were told that they would earn a monthly return on their investment of almost 35% for “staking” cryptocurrency.
But their money was never invested, and the defendants knew that the cryptocurrency investment company Solano Fi did not actually exist, according to a court document. Instead, the money went to the three defendants and possible other conspirators, according to a court document.
Pinillo used his position as a pastor to convince his congregation to invest, saying it was not only a safe investment, but one with guaranteed returns, according to a court document. The investment came to him in a dream, he said.
He recruited investors and others to convince others to invest in Solano Fi, saying they could earn 5% of the initial money invested and 5% of the investment’s growth, according to a court document.
He gave seminars and maintained a group on Telegram called Multimillionarios SolanoFi that had more than 1,500 members, with most communication to recruit investors done in Spanish.
When investors would try to collect on their investment, they were given excuses, according to a court document.
They were told that assets could not be paid out until cryptocurrency markets improved, that the website was down or that they could not get back their investment unless they found a new investor to buy out their accounts, according to a court document.
Others were told they needed to send more money to repair and improve the Solano Fi system to enable investors to get their money back, according to a court document.
The latest court filings detail the prosecution’s accounts of the experiences of six investors, identifying them only by their initials.
Alleged crypto fraud victims
Allegations made by the Eastern Washington District U.S. Attorney’s Office include:
▪ S.R., who lived in Eastern Washington, sometimes attended services at Teimpos de Poder.
In late 2021 Pinillo told S.R. about his new cryptocurrency investment fund and said it guaranteed 34.9% return with no risk, convincing S.R. to transfer cryptocurrencies totalling more than $10,700 to Solano Fi.
But when S.R. wanted his investment and profits, Pinillo refused, saying S.R. must send him more money before he could be paid out.
Read more Bill Dufford, education activist who helped launch Pat Conroy’s career, dies at 99
In November 2022 S.R. obtained a judgment of $10,000 in small claims court, but has not received any payment, according to a court document.
▪ A.B., who lived in Eastern Washington, was guaranteed a 40% monthly return from Solano Fi and was told that while the initial investment could not be withdrawn until a year had passed, that gains could be withdrawn at any time.
A.B. invested not only $30,000, but allowed Pinillo to use her home for Solano Fi social media to portray an image of luxury an investment success. She also invited others, including her brother, to attend a sales event at a Pasco hotel, and her brother also invested.
When A.B., who for a time had a romantic relationship with Pinillo, asked for her investment returns, the only payment she received was $18. Pinillo filmed her making the $18 withdrawal from her “account” to use as marketing for Solano Fi on social media.
▪ R.C., a resident of Eastern Washington, was introduced to Pinillo by a coworker who was a Solano Fi investor and recruiter.
When R.C. tried to withdraw his investment of $4,000 worth of Bitcoin, Pinillo said there were technical issues. R.C. was told to call a customer service line that no one answered.
R.C. won a claim in state court for money he invested, but has yet to be paid, according to a court document.
▪ P.J.V., a parishioner at Tiempos de Poder, invested in Solano Fi after he was promised a guaranteed 1.5% daily return and told he could withdraw money at any time.
P.J.V. invested $34,000 and also helped recruit other investors.
When he requested money from Solano Fi, Pinillo said he could not get the funds because of ongoing legal issues with a cryptocurrency exchange.
“When P.J.V. ultimately confronted Pinillo, Pinillo stated that he would never be arrested because investors did not physically hand him money but instead transferred it to accounts he designated,” according to a court document.
▪ S.R.O., a resident of Colorado, invested about $36,000 and paid $5,000 in fees.
He tracked his investment through an app, which showed his investment increasing in value. S.R.O. also became a recruiter or “coach” for Pinillo.
After Pinillo shut down the Solano Fi website in summer 2023, Pinillo told investors they could gain access to their balances only if they invested an additional $1,500.
S.R.O. refused to invest the additional money and continued to ask for his money back, but Pinillo told him it could not be recovered because of an issue with FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund that collapsed in 2022.
▪ J.P., a resident of Eastern Washington, met Pinillo through the Tiempos de Poder church and heard Pinillo’s pitch to invest in Solano Fie in person, during electronic meetings and chats and at an investment seminar at the Red Lion Hotel in Pasco, before investing.
J.P., initially invested about $2,200, before attempting to withdraw money. He was told instead that he needed to provide more money to update the Solano Fi servers and fix technical issues.
J.P. responded by investing about $2,500 in September and October 2023.
Ongoing court proceedings
Pinillo pleaded innocent to initial charges and is scheduled to appear on new charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and Conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Oct. 20 in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court.
Pinillo was initially not incarcerated and was living in Miami while the legal case against him progressed, but was ordered to jail last year when he was accused of contacting victims, including soliciting money from one of them, and allegedly soliciting money for an orphanage that doesn’t exist.
Tiempos de Poder is no longer in its former location in Pasco, but has an active private Facebook group.
The Commodity Trading Commission also has filed a civil suit against Pinillo in federal court. The commission is an independent federal regulatory agency charged by Congress with enforcement of commodity exchanges.
Read more Chiefs’ Travis Kelce praised for supporting Taylor Swift at her workplace
That case has been paused pending the outcome of the criminal case.