Description

FBI IC3 complaint filed 9/23/24 It started with a Facebook ad linked to Apex Finance Institute for AI driven stock tips, through a WhatsApp group. Gave out stock tips, seemed legit. On July 24th, I was contacted by Kate Sullivan, Maxwell Laurence's assistant, WhatsApp # 213 668 1348. Introduced me to AI-driven Apex Mind system. On August 5th said "We're preparing to launch a limited beta test round of Apex Mind short-term trading strategy" and was told to download USBIT Max on my phone and enter code #300275 when registering. I opened the account in USBIT MAX and USBIT VIP with $100 but never put in the code number #300275. August 8th 2025 they launch Apex Mind system. Apex Mind transferred $500 USDT into everyone's USBIT account to test the system, funds later returned to bc1q7wd237xnlfzwkvdfqm9t5s53xegsyypee8lgh6. We began trading crypto Futures contract on the following tokens USB/USDT, HHK/USDT, BNK/USDT and ZHK/USDT. They also had their own coin APC/USDT for sale. At first everything seemed above board. I had checked out Apex Finance Institute, and USBIT nothing bad on the internet, many press releases on the internet (ads) on Maxwell Laurence. Everything was done through WhatsApp and Telegram . They would give out signals e.g. Contract: USB, long, x110 position 10%. Then they initiated the 300% challenge. Funds invested would grow 300% using their AI system, or they would cover the shortfall. This is when they said to add funds as the more fund the greater the position size. Kate Sullivan (http://t.me/KkaSull) kept pushing to add more funds. But I was hesitant, at this time I made two small withdrawals (1300 and 900) back to my Coinbase account. The first beta test ended with everyone making their target 300%. Next came the Apex Finance Institute General partner levels. Which classified you in tiers base on the amount of money in your account Tier 1, 30 to 300k, tier 2 , 500k to 1 million tier 3 1.5 to 5 million tier 4, 8 to 30 million. I stayed in tier 1 but had about 42 k in the account, which grew to 151000 very quickly. From there, they constantly pushed to move up in tiers. On September 18th my wife and I suspected that these people on Telegram could be ai robots as some of their answers weren't human. We did a full check again on Chatgpt and grok and this time we started to see some negative information about the trading platform USBIT, (https://web.usbitvip.com/) nothing legal, but questionable legitimacy. On 9/22/25, the platform did not recognize my pass word, and I had copied the url and pasted it in and it took me to my account without any password authorization. At this point, I sent a message to Kate Sullivan that this was not acceptable. The next morning my Telegram account was frozen, all communication lines with Kate Sullivan, Maxwell Laurence and Phillip Ashford were cutoff. This is when I tried moved funds from the USBIT VIP futures account into the spot account and purchased a fractional amount of BTC, as this is usually easier to move than other coins. I then initiated a withdrawal to my Coinbase account. 30 minutes later the withdrawal failed. I contacted USBIT customer service and I was told that USBIT detected a referral code on this account is for Apex Finance Institute exclusive membership. Apex is currently running a the program.” All users using this referral code are under manual custody. We are unable to complete your request at this time”. If you are not participating in any program, please contact Apex staff for coordination and have them notify us." I contacted Kate Sullivan through Whatsapp (213) 558-1348 she said they would release the funds if I resigned from the program. I wrote that i would if they release the .37 BTC to my Coinbase account. USBIT didn't release funds. Then came a message from USBIT “ Because you violated the agreement. You need to return 10% of the profit This is what they are asking” when I made the withdrawal to the Apex BTC address that I was given bc1q7wd237xnlfzwkvdfqm9t5s53xegsyypee8lgh6I the withdrawal failed. USBIT said the withdrawal had to come from an external source not USBIT. I tried to make the withdrawal again to the previous address given and that failed.