Former banker Rashawn Russell sentenced to 41 months for crypto and wire fraud on May 31 by Eastern NY District Court.
The Eastern New York District Court in Brooklyn handed down a sentence of 41 months in prison to former investment banker Rashawn Russell on May 31. The charges against Russell included wire fraud in a cryptocurrency scheme, as well as an access device fraud scheme that was unrelated to the cryptocurrency scheme.
The former CEO of Deutsche Bank, who entered a guilty plea in September, faced the allegations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) asserts that Russell was the person responsible for the fraudulent R3 Crypto Fund between the months of November 2020 and August 2022.
Broker Rashawn Russell Misappropriates Crypto Funds
The fund claimed to invest in cryptocurrencies and promise substantial profits, with occasional guarantees. In fact, Rashawn Russell misappropriated investor funds for his own personal gain or to reimburse other investors. Furthermore, Rashawn Russell falsely claimed to have transferred money to investors and requested reimbursement. Russell, a registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, was also an industry member.
The charges against him may have resulted in his being sentenced to thirty years in prison. Furthermore, he was required to pay $1.5 million in reparations to the victims of the cryptocurrency fraud. In a separate incident, Russell obtained 97 bank cards with at least 43 different identities between September 2021 and June 2023 with the goal of using them to commit fraudulent transactions.
In April 2023, the prosecution filed charges against Russell for the cryptocurrency-related offense. It was in September that he entered a guilty plea to all of the accusations. Russell’s conviction is just one example of the wave of fraudsters convicted in the past two months.
In 2022, the Southern New York District Court found Shakeeb Ahmed, a computer security engineer, guilty of committing flash loan attacks against cryptocurrency exchanges, and sentenced him to three years in jail followed by three years of supervised release. The Southern New York District Court handed down the punishment on April 12.
On May 15, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against brothers Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Pepaire-Bueno as a result of their manipulation of the Ethereum blockchain. These charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Thomas John Sfraga entered a guilty plea on May 18 to a charge of wire fraud in connection with three different schemes, one of which involved a cryptocurrency wallet that did not exist. On the same day, authorities took two individuals into custody and charged them with seven charges of money laundering and international money laundering due to the cash they obtained from a crypto hoax involving pig-butchering, valued at over $73 million.