Braden Karony, the head of the cryptocurrency project SafeMoon, has been found guilty of fraud and other criminal charges in a federal courtroom in New York.
According to a May 21 statement from the US Attorney’s Office, the charges included conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
If given the maximum penalty, Karony could spend up to 45 years in prison. The jury also ordered the seizure of one home and proceeds from the sale of another, together worth about $2 million.
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The case was the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations, with support from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
SafeMoon launched in 2021 with a transaction fee that promised to reward long-term holders. Each time someone transferred the token, a 10% fee was applied. Half of that was meant to go back to other token holders, while the rest was supposed to stay in a locked pool to support trading.
However, investigators said Karony and others had access to that pool and used the money however they wanted. Although they publicly claimed they were not trading SafeMoon, they secretly bought and sold the token.
According to the indictment, the stolen money went toward homes, expensive vehicles like a Tesla and an Audi R8, and custom trucks. Officials explained that Karony used hidden wallets and unregistered accounts on trading platforms to move funds and hide his identity.
US Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. commented that SafeMoon “was anything but safe” and that Karony misled people while using their money for himself.
On May 21, US authorities accused Jeremy Jordan-Jones, founder of Amalgam Capital Ventures, of deceiving investors into handing over more than $1 million for a fake blockchain project. How did the case unfold? Read the full story.
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