William Koo Ichioka, a 30-year-old self-made multimillionaire, has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding over 100 investors through a cryptocurrency scheme. Ichioka was originally from Guam and graduated from St. John’s School in 2011. His family is the original founder and current leader of the Guam Plaza Hotel JP Superstore.
After graduating from the Upper Tumon school, Ichioka moved to California to attend the University of San Francisco. He graduated in 2015 and became an independent investor, becoming a multi-millionaire by the age of 23. By 2018, Ichioka was living in New York and allegedly began a fraudulent scheme to acquire “tens of millions of dollars from over 100 persons and entities,” promising investors a 10% return on their investment every 30 business days.
Court documents state that Ichioka used the money intended for cryptocurrency investments to pay for his own personal bills, including rent, groceries and luxury watches, jewelry and vehicles. He also created a business called Ichioka Ventures to “further perpetuate the scheme,” and privately acknowledged at the end of 2019 that the business had not made any money since it started – something he never told investors. In addition, Ichioka falsified documents to misrepresent the amount of cash he had and misled the Internal Revenue Service about his income.
Documents in court state that Ichioka owes at least $21 million to investors and $40 million to his family. On June 22, a plea agreement was entered, which is currently sealed. Ichioka is scheduled to appear in court on July 5. In a press release from the Northern District of California District Attorney’s Office, it was revealed that Ichioka has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of fraud relating to the purchase and sale of securities, and one count of commodities fraud. The court could impose monetary penalties or restitution.
