The co-founder of AirBit Membership — a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that swindled buyers of over $100 million — has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for his function in a $100 million “pyramid scheme” that presupposed to be concerned in crypto mining.
The sentencing comes practically seven months after Rodriguez — the co-founder of AirBit Membership — pleaded responsible to wire fraud conspiracy fees in a United States District Courtroom in March.
In a Sept. 26 assertion, Damian Williams, United States Legal professional for the Southern District of New York stated Rodriguez “preyed” on unsophisticated buyers with false guarantees that their funds have been invested into reputable cryptocurrency buying and selling and mining operations.
“As a substitute of investing on behalf of buyers, Rodriguez hid victims’ cash in a posh laundering scheme utilizing Bitcoin, an legal professional belief account, and worldwide entrance and shell firms and used victims’ cash to line his personal pockets.”
District Courtroom Decide George B. Daniels imposed a further three years of supervised launch for Rodriguez, which is able to comply with his 12-year jail sentence.
.@HSINewYork‘s El Dorado Job Drive, the most important anti-money laundering activity power within the US, is proud to have performed an important function in delivering justice to the victims of Pablo Renato Rodriguez and the fraudulent “AirBit Membership” Ponzi Scheme #HomelandSecurityInvestigations #HSINY https://t.co/UVco4ai3rI
— HSI New York (@HSINewYork) September 26, 2023
The convicted fraudster was ordered to pay a forfeiture of $65 million and to forfeit different gadgets, together with a complete of three,800 Bitcoins (BTC) (value $100 million), Rodriguez’s Irvine residence in California, $900,000 in U.S. {dollars} seized from the property and practically $1 million beforehand held in escrow for a Gulfstream Jet.
The opposite defendants — Dos Santos, Scott Hughes, Cecilia Millan and Karina Chairez have additionally pleaded responsible and are awaiting sentencing verdicts.
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AirBit Membership was launched in 2015. Potential buyers have been instructed that AirBit Membership earned returns on cryptocurrency mining and buying and selling and that victims would earn passive, assured every day returns on any membership bought.
Nevertheless, as early as 2016, membership members wishing to withdraw proceeds have been met with excuses, delays and hidden charges and instructed they have to recruit new members in the event that they wished to obtain the returns.
The operators of the membership, together with Rodriguez have been charged with fraud and cash laundering by the DOJ in August 2020 after a probe by the US Homeland Safety Investigations.
In 2022, $7.6 billion in funds have been misplaced to cryptocurrency ponzi and pyramid schemes, in keeping with a June 28 report by blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs.
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