A former investment banker and registered broker has been convicted of masterminding a $1.5 million crypto fraud scheme.
In a new press release, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says Rashawn Russell, who formerly worked for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), has been sentenced to three years and five months behind bars.
The DOJ says that between November 2020 and August 2022, Russell executed a scheme in which he defrauded crypto investors with false promises of huge returns. Russell would then embezzle their money for personal use.
“Russell misappropriated a large portion of the investors’ assets and used them to finance personal expenses, gamble and pay back other investors. Russell also repeatedly failed to repay investors’ key investments and failed to provide investors with promised returns.
After certain investors requested reimbursement of their investments, Russell also falsely claimed that he had transferred the money to them.”
According to the DOJ, in a separate scam between September 2021 and June 2023, Russell illegally obtained 97 credit and debit numbers and 43 identification cards from gym lockers in New York and New Jersey and used them for unauthorized transactions.
In addition to his time behind bars, Russell has been ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the victims of his digital asset fraud, according to the press release.
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