The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued a pastor, accusing him of marketing a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme to 1,500 people, including some who attended a Washington church event, from which the pastor allegedly made $6 million. The US CFTC said on December 10 that it had filed a lawsuit against Francier Obando Pinillo for alleged fraud and embezzlement in a multi-level pyramid scheme. In an indictment filed in federal court in Spokane on December 9, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Pinillo, the pastor of a Spanish church in Washington state, claimed to his congregants and others via social media that he operated a trading platform that rewarded users with "high-performance" cryptocurrency trading.