A San Francisco man is heading to prison after a U.S. court sentenced him for carrying out a multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency scams, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release on Tuesday.
Jerry Ji Guo, 33, was handed a six-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman and bought to pay almost $4.4 million in restitution after he had actually pleaded guilty to preliminary coin offering (ICO) scams.
During the height of the ICO trend in 2018, Guo represented himself to customers as an ICO expert, offering to carry out marketing and consultancy services on behalf of cryptocurrency start-ups.
Instead of performing his tasks as assured, Guo embezzled customers’ money and cryptocurrency. He was prosecuted by a Federal Grand Jury for the criminal offense in November 2018.
The San Francisco man pleaded guilty to one count of wire scams in August 2019. He had actually been charged on an additional 7 counts however the service charges were dismissed. Guo was possibly on the hook for twenty years in prison if he was condemned of all charges, the Daily Beast reported at the time.
In 2019, the U.S. federal government acquired a specified application for an initial order of forfeit and likewise acquired warrants to take Guo’s customer’s funds. Per a last order of forfeit, and with the support of Guo, the U.S. federal government is now in a position to bring back taken home to victims.
The present worth of the taken money and cryptocurrency is approximated to be over $20 million, according to the DOJ.
“This case shows we can use criminal forfeiture to compensate fraud victims even when cryptocurrency is used in the fraud,” stated U.S. Attorney David Anderson.
Guo has actually likewise been bought by Judge Freeman to serve a three-year duration of guidance by authorities upon his release from prison.
Source link
