Florida Investor Alleges $860,000 Scam by Denver Trading School and Fake Crypto Exchange

According to Cointelegraph, a Florida investor has filed a lawsuit claiming he was defrauded of $860,000 by a Denver-based trading school and a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange. Brian Firestone alleges that the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC), operating from downtown Denver, collaborated with a fake exchange named CoinBridge Partners in Cherry Creek to execute the scheme. Firestone recounts being approached in December by an individual named John Smith, who purportedly represented ASITC. Smith offered to teach him cryptocurrency trading and provided $500 to initiate his trading journey. The now-defunct website of the trading school listed its address as 1660 Lincoln St. and directed users to trade through CoinBridge, which falsely claimed to have raised $10 million from 600 investors. Firestone described CoinBridge as a completely fake exchange in his complaint. The lawsuit details how ASITC allegedly employed a strategy known as signal trading. Professors would send precise trade instructions to participants like Firestone, who would then execute the trades via their CoinBridge accounts. Firestone's initial $500 investment reportedly grew to $55,000, leading him to invest an additional $50,000 in January. His account balance purportedly soared to $2 million within weeks. However, the situation took a downturn when a losing trade reduced his balance to $12,000. In response, Firestone wired $470,000 in cash and took a $330,000 loan from ASITC to continue trading. His CoinBridge account allegedly reached $24.5 million until a trade in USDT on March 9 failed to execute due to a supposed "system error," which erased his balance. Firestone borrowed an additional $1 million from ASITC, bringing his account to $6.6 million. However, when he was unable to repay part of the loan, ASITC allegedly shut down his account on May 1. The lawsuit accuses ASITC, CoinBridge, Smith, and founder Raymond Torres of fraud, theft, and racketeering. The legitimate Coinbridge Partners in Wyoming has denied any involvement in the alleged scam. In 2025, over $2.1 billion has been stolen in crypto-related incidents, primarily due to wallet compromises and key mismanagement, according to CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu. This trend indicates a shift from code-based hacks to targeting user behavior. In 2024, phishing attacks resulted in over $1 billion in losses across nearly 300 incidents, marking it as the most damaging method of attack in the crypto sector.