Jason Cilia: Crypto entrepreneur’s alleged ‘Ponzi scheme’

A cryptocurrency enthusiast from Melbourne’s west has been accused of fleecing tens of thousands of dollars in a “Ponzi scheme”.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story contained an incorrect image of a man identified as Jason Cilia.  The man pictured was not the Jason Cilia accused of running a Ponzi scheme and has no connection whatsoever to the Jason Cilia named in the story.  The Herald Sun apologises for the error. 

A crypto entrepreneur has faced allegations he ran a “Ponzi scheme” which fleeced tens of thousands of dollars from an unhappy investor.

Jason Cilia, 38, faced the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where prosecutors outlined the case against him.

“It’s effectively a Ponzi scheme,” a police prosecutor told the court.

“He has told quite an in-depth story about mining bitcoins with a lot of money moving around.”

According to charges filed by police, he allegedly swindled $34,900 in cash and 10 iPhones worth an additional $26,184 at various dates between June 17 and 25, 2019.

Police alleged the Albanvale man deceived his victim by claiming the money was to be used to set up and operate a cryptocurrency mining operation.

“He’s made it appear as a legitimate investment by passing around money to give that impression, the victim is out of pocket a substantial amount of money,” the prosecutor alleged.

In court prosecutors further alleged Mr Cilia went on to sell the 10 phones to customers around the world, however he is not facing any charges relating to this.

Mr Cilia has been charged with 17 counts of using deception to dishonestly obtain property.

Defence lawyer Ben McGrath however said the police had a “hopeless case” against his client and argued the complainant was just a bitter investor in a failed business.

“The main charges against my client relate to the theft of mobile phones,” he said.

“There’s no evidence of that. This really is a civil dispute between business partners where a business has failed.”

He argued Mr Cilia had told police using mobile phones to mine bitcoin turned out to be an “ineffective” process, joking if it worked well; “none of us would be here”.

“Mining bitcoin takes immense computing power but there are apps you can use to do this,” Mr McGrath said.

“The allegation of fraud seems to come from police thinking there’s no ability to do this.”

The matter was set down for a one and a half day contested hearing on November 8 by magistrate Gregory Robinson.