David Smillie, founder of Canadian crypto platform ezBtc, faces allegations of stealing approximately 13 million CAD ($9.5 million) from investors and using the funds for gambling.
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) revealed this information following an extensive investigation. The regulatory agency, responsible for enforcing BC’s Securities Act, uncovered substantial evidence that Smillie had misappropriated customer funds, transferring the money from the exchange to gambling sites such as FortuneJack and CloudBet.
In a statement, the BCSC confirmed:
“The respondents executed a fraudulent scheme involving securities, deceiving customers about operating a crypto asset trading platform while diverting around $13 million of their assets for personal use.”
There is also suspicion that the accounts linked to these crypto transfers were controlled either by Smillie or his employees. The regulator further explained:
“Most of ezBtc’s transfers to CloudBet were directed to accounts belonging to Smillie or another ezBtc insider. Over 21.3% of the Bitcoin transferred from ezBtc to CloudBet was sent to deposit addresses that also received funds from Smillie’s accounts on platforms like Poloniex, Binance, and Kraken.”
As more Bitcoin flowed into Smillie’s exchange account from ezBtc, an increasing amount was transferred to gambling sites, signaling potential financial misconduct.
Smillie failed to appear at the hearings, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
