Fraud
Brooklyn man sent to prison for 12 years for stealing $16M in a Coinbase phishing scheme
The fraudster managed to scam about 100 people across the United States, convincing them of transferring funds to him, claiming their accounts had been hacked.
Las Vegas businessman convicted in $24 million 'AI supercomputer' crypto Ponzi scheme
Brent Kovar has been found guilty of running a crypto Ponzi scheme, defrauding at least 400 investors out of $24 million.
Crypto platform operator gets 15-year prison sentence in South Korea due to $50 million scam
A South Korean court sentenced the head of centralized finance (CeFi) lender Delio to 15 years in prison for embezzling digital assets from more than 1,100 customers.
Chinese exile once linked to Trump strategist gets 30-year sentence in $1 billion fraud
The businessman known as Miles Guo, who pushed the fraudulent H-Coin project and had close ties to Steve Bannon, was finally sentenced after his 2024 conviction.
Ex-Celsius CEO Mashinsky gets U.S. CFTC ban in final resolution with regulator
Alexander Mashinsky, the founder of failed crypto lender Celsius, had earlier been imprisoned for fraud and is now formally banned from CFTC registration.
U.S. House bill would erect crypto-theft task force across law enforcement agencies
New legislation from a bipartisan duo would set up a multi-agency group under the U.S. attorney general to take a lead on cryptocurrency theft cases.
Google engineer busted for insider trading on Polymarket
A Google security engineer was arrested for allegedly using the company's internal search data to place winning bets on Polymarket prediction markets. Michele Spagnuolo transferred $3.8 million in USDC and personally cleared about $1.2 million before attempting to conceal the funds through a privacy mixer. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily."
Singapore charges former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao over Terra collapse claims
Zhu allegedly directed staff to publish false claims that Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to the TerraUSD collapse on Telegram and in customer emails.
Kraken's parent company Payward alleges $25 million crypto custody fraud in lawsuit against Etana and firm's CEO
The crypto exchange claims client funds were misused, commingled and concealed in a “Ponzi-like” scheme that unraveled amid a liquidity crisis.
Crypto Long & Short: What the DOJ’s Massive Crypto Seizures Mean for the Industry
In this week’s Crypto Long & Short Newsletter, Jared Lenow’s insights on the DOJ’s increased focus on crypto seizures and what it means for the broader industry – the good, the bad and the ugly. Then, we dive into a year end vibe check with two observations, two predictions and reader favorite quotes from 2025 by Andy Baehr.
