Bitcoin Ponzi Operator Ordered Imprisoned for Civil Contempt

A Texas man who owes the SEC more than $40 million after admitting to the first bitcoin Ponzi scheme will be arrested and imprisoned for civil contempt unless he quickly provides overdue documents and payments.

Trendon Shavers has disregarded several court orders, Judge Amos L. Mazzant said Monday for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

“Shavers’s flagrant disregard for the Court’s orders on multiple occasions leads to only one conclusion: Shavers will only comply with the Court’s orders if he is incarcerated,” Mazzant said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Shavers for securities fraud, alleging his ...