The founder of crypto company My Big Coin received 8 years in prison for fraud According to Reuters
© Reuters. Randall Crater, founder of defunct crypto business My Big Coin, arrives in federal court for conviction, after he was found guilty of wire fraud and making illegal currency transactions France, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) – The founder of a defunct crypto business was sentenced on Tuesday to more than eight years in prison for defrauding investors and customers of millions of dollars by marketing an virtual currency called My Big Coin with lies and half truths.
Federal prosecutors have urged U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston to impose a 13-year prison sentence on Randall Crater for sending a message to others in the first sentence against the founder of the cryptocurrency company. for marketing fraud.
While Casper concluded that claim went too far, she rejected Crater’s argument that a 30-month prison sentence was enough to punish him for his false statements, including that My Big Coin is a real cryptocurrency backed by gold.
“Certainly crypto is a newer business, a newer market, a 21st Century market,” Casper said. “But the core of this scheme is old and it’s cheating.”
Crater, who was sentenced to 100 months in total and ordered to forfeit nearly $7.7 million, is expected to appeal. In court, he apologized but said he never intended to defraud anyone.
“I don’t intend to steal anyone’s money,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t regret it.”
A grand jury in July found Crater, 52, guilty of wire fraud and conducting illegal currency transactions in a prosecution that falls outside of a Transaction Commission precedent case. Commodity Futures United States.
The CFTC’s 2018 lawsuit against Crater and his failed company, Nevada-based My Big Coin Inc, led to one of the first court rulings to suggest that a virtual currency could be used considered a commodity within the jurisdiction of the regulatory agency.
Prosecutors later secured Crater’s indictment in 2019 and accused him of causing investors and clients to lose $7.5 million between 2014 and 2017 with lies about My Big Coin, whose name sounds similar to the popular virtual currency bitcoin.
Prosecutors said those false claims included that My Big Coin was an actual virtual currency, backed by gold, and in partnership with MasterCard. Prosecutors said he used the money to buy cars, jewelry, artwork and antique coins.
