A German cryptocurrency CEO who was living under house arrest in New York City on a $5 million bond has skipped town and is now a fugitive after it is believed he tampered with his ankle bracelet monitor on October 3. 

Horst Jicha was scheduled to go on trial March 31 of next year for "multiple charges of securities fraud and conspiracy related to a multi-level marketing scheme known as USI Tech," CNBC reports. After being alerted that his ankle bracelet had stopped working, Pretrial Services officials emailed Jicha notifying him he needed to come to their office. However he did not show up and has not been heard from since October 3. On Thursday, he failed to show up to a Brooklyn federal court where he was scheduled to appear to address pretrial issues and instead, the judge heard from the Brooklyn US attorney's office that Jicha had tampered with his ankle bracelet. His whereabouts are unknown as of Friday.

$4 million of Jicha's bond was personally guaranteed by his partner, children, and 3 other people living in Germany. The other $1 million was secured in cash. “There’s a very active investigation underway to capture him,” said John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, on Friday. "We are going to forfeit the bond."

While Jicha was operating his company, he falsely told investors that they would make an average of 140% returns on their money within a 140-day period by either investing in bitcoin mining and trading operations or earning commissions from referring others to buy USI Tech products, his indictment states.

“In reality the platform was just a facade, and when questions arose, Jicha stole millions of his investors’ money and fled the country,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said in January. He hid out in Brazil and Spain before being arrested in Florida in 2023.