Failed cryptocurrency promoter John Bigatton to be sentenced

John Bigatton told cryptocurrency investors that 2018 would ‘certainly’ be his best year ever. By the end of it, the company that he promoted had gone bust, his wife Madeline was missing, and he was under investigation by ASIC.

John Bigatton travelled across Australia selling the dream of cryptocurrency BitConnect, vowing it would become “untouchable” and that if investors got on board “2018 will be one of the best years”.

“I know it (2018) will certainly be mine,” Bigatton wrote in a Facebook post in late 2017.

But by the end of that year, Bigatton’s wife Madeline was missing — a suspected

suicide, despite wild rumours swirling that she had faked her own death — the price of BitConnect Coin sat at zero, and he was at the centre of an ASIC investigation.

Today (Friday), Bigatton will be sentenced in the NSW District Court on one count of unlawfully providing financial services.

Court documents seen by The Daily Telegraph detail Bigatton’s personal battles in the wake of BitConnect’s collapse, starting with his wife’s disappearance at Kurnell on March 25, 2018, then being left to live off Centrelink payments and the money from her life insurance.

John Bigatton pictured with his wife Madeline, who disappeared in 2018 in a suspected suicide.

Bigatton and his wife had met at university when they were in their mid-20s and were together for 23 years.

As part of a pre-sentence assessment report, he told a psychologist how his wife’s disappearance and suspected death left him suicidal.

Madeline Bigatton has been missing since 2018. Picture: Facebook

“I kept asking myself why (did Madeline take her own life) but I know I will never get the answers to that,” he said.

“She did what she thought was right for her under the circumstances.

“I could be bashing my head over it but I’ve had to accept it and get on with life.”

CCTV captured Mrs Bigatton driving out of their Carrs Park home, but her next known location was at Cape Solander in Kurnell, where her car was found. Inside was her wedding ring and a suicide note, court documents detail.

Bigatton told the psychologist rumours that his wife had “faked her own death while fleeing with billions of dollars” had sent him into a “spiral”.

“I lost my job … I locked myself in the house for 15 months. I went shopping late at night, too afraid to go anywhere and didn’t talk to anybody except for my neighbours.”

Before his world came crashing down, Bigatton had been living the high life, appearing at events for BitConnect — once worth USD$2.5 billion — as he was celebrated as one of the top worldwide “promoters” of the cryptocurrency. Videos showed him dancing on stage as cash rained from the sky.

But BitConnect was too good to be true. Its founder, Satish Kumbhani, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Diego in 2022 for allegedly orchestrating a US$2.4 billion global Ponzi scheme.

Bigatton was contacted by Kumbhani in 2017 and made national promoter of BitConnect in Australia. But despite promoting the brand and accepting investments from Australians, who were ultimately ripped off, Bigatton admitted in court he never held the appropriate financial licence to do so lawfully.

Bigatton (left) on stage at a BitConnect cryptocurrency event.

While he initially faced six charges, all but the single charge of unlawfully providing financial services were dropped.

His lawyers detailed in their submissions to Judge Robert Newlinds that BitConnect was not “inherently unlawful. The only unlawfulness is in the discrete acts of providing financial advice in the Agreed Facts”.

Those acts include talks he gave at talks in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia, during which court documents outline how he told potential investors gathered that “the value of BitConnect coin is USD $300-350, and within a month it will exceed USD$1000 … do what you want with your money”.

Within weeks the price of BitConnect coin had plummeted.

The 56-year-old’s lawyers submitted Bigatton should not be convicted, let alone imprisoned, and that the single charge should be dealt with via a good behaviour bond.

He will face Downing Centre District Court for sentencing today (Friday).

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]