A former investment banker and registered broker has been sentenced to prison for orchestrating a fraudulent crypto scheme worth $1.5 million. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a recent press release that Rashawn Russell, who was previously employed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), will serve three years and five months behind bars.
According to the DOJ, Russell conducted the scheme between November 2020 and August 2022, deceiving crypto investors with false promises of substantial returns. Instead of investing their funds as promised, Russell misused the money for personal expenses and gambling, while also using it to repay other investors. He repeatedly failed to reimburse the investors’ principal investments and neglected to provide the expected rates of return.
Moreover, when some investors requested repayment, Russell falsely claimed that he had transferred the money to them. The DOJ also revealed that, in a separate scam spanning from September 2021 to June 2023, Russell illegally acquired 97 credit and debit card numbers, as well as 43 identification cards, from gym lockers in New York and New Jersey. He then used these stolen credentials for unauthorized transactions.
In addition to his prison sentence, Russell has been ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the victims of his cryptocurrency fraud, as stated in the press release.
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