Florida man drags shady crypto trading school to court over $860K loss

A Florida man lost about $860,000 to a shady crypto trading school based in Denver, United States. According to the lawsuit, the victim claimed the trading school introduced him to a fraudulent crypto exchange that promised him life-changing rewards for his investments only to end up scamming him.

In the lawsuit filed in a federal court, the victim, Brian Firestone claimed that the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center (ASITC), which operated in downtown Denver, was in partnership with a fraudulent crypto exchange called CoinBridge Partners in Cherry Creek in the scheme. According to Firestone, he was first approached in December by a man named John Smith, who he said claimed to represent the trading school.

Florida man sues crypto trading school after $860,000 loss

According to Firestone, Smith offered to tutor him on the basics and in-depth technicals in crypto trading. He noted that Smith even offered him a gift of $500 to kickstart his learning process, one which was a ploy to eventually lure him into the elaborate scam.

The trading school’s website, which is now defunct, lists its address as 1600 Lincoln St. The platform directed its users to carry out all their crypto trading services on CoinBridge, which claimed to have raised $10 million from 600 investors.

According to Firestone, CoinBridge is a fake establishment masquerading as a real exchange. The lawsuit mentioned that ASITC allegedly used a method known as signal trading. 

According to the lawsuit, Firestone claimed that professors would message participants in the ASTIC classes at different times with clear trade instructions at different times. Students are then expected to follow these instructions, which end with them executing trades using their CoinBridge account.

Firestone said that his initial $500 investment from the gift from Smith quickly rose to $55,000, prompting him to invest $50,000 more in January. Within weeks, his balance started reading $2 million. He didn’t hold back on his appreciation for the professor. “Professor, I must thank you,” Firestone texted Smith on Feb. 8. “My results were outstanding. Thank you for letting me in this trade today. This is so exciting!” he said.

However, things started to move from good to bad for Firestone after a losing trade brought his balance back to $12,000. According to Firestone, he then wired $470,000 in cash and took a loan of $330,000 from ASITC to continue trading.

He mentioned that after the influx of cash, his balance on CoinBridge read $24.5 million, until a USDT trade he carried out on March 9 failed to execute. “I can’t close it,” Firestone messaged Smith. “I ncant clpsoe it.” Firestone said it was a “system error” that caused the glitch, leading to his balance getting erased on the platform.

Two days after that ordeal, he borrowed another $1 million from ASITC, bringing the total to $6.6 million. However, he was not able to repay part of the loan as ASITC allegedly shut down his account on May 1.

According to the suit, Firestone is accusing ASITC, CoinBridge, Smith, and platform founder Raymond Torres of fraud, racketeering, and theft. The real CointBridge Partners in Wyoming has also denied any connection to the scam.

Meanwhile, over $2.1 billion has been stolen in several crypto-related incidents since the beginning of 2025, with most of the losses tied to wallet breaches and key mismanagement, according to CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu. The trend shows that hackers and malicious actors are moving from targeting platforms in code-based hacks to users. In 2024, phishing attacks accounted for over $1 billion in losses across 300 incidents, making it the most damaging method of attack in the crypto space.

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