Virgil Sigma Fund
A crypto hedge fund (with affiliate VQR Multistrategy Fund) that claimed ~$90M in assets and a market-neutral arbitrage strategy. Founder Stefan Qin pleaded guilty to securities fraud after draining investor capital; he was sentenced in 2021 to 7.5 years.
Also known as: Virgil Sigma Fund, VQR Multistrategy Fund, Virgil Capital, Stefan Qin
Summary
Virgil Sigma Fund LP, run by Australian founder Stefan He Qin, marketed a market-neutral cryptocurrency "arbitrage" strategy and at one point claimed assets exceeding $90 million. According to the SEC and SDNY, Qin had instead dissipated nearly all investor capital. [1][2]
Mechanism
Prosecutors said Qin misappropriated investor money for personal expenses and speculative investments from 2017, lied about the value, location, and status of the funds, and then sought to raid his second fund (VQR Multistrategy Fund) to satisfy redemption requests from Sigma investors — hallmarks of a Ponzi-style scheme. [1][2]
Outcome
Qin pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in February 2021 and, on September 15, 2021, was sentenced to 90 months (7.5 years) in prison and ordered to forfeit $54,793,532. A receiver was appointed to recover assets for investors. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
AmanKesar11 Frozen Bitcoin CaseOtherIn June 2026, blockchain investigator reports highlighted a case involving approximately 5.73 BTC (worth roughly $475,000 at the time of freezing) that had been frozen by cryptocurrency exchange Changelly in March 2025. The individual associated with the funds, using the online alias AmanKesar11, reportedly contacted investigators seeking assistance in recovering the frozen assets. During discussions, multiple and conflicting explanations were provided regarding the origin of the funds.
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
