The US Department of Justice has sentenced a former rugby player to 30 months in prison for cheating investors from $ 900,000 in a crypto -my -building ponzi schedule.
Shane Donovan Moore, a 37-year-old semi-professional rugby player from Seattle, operated a fraudulent company called Quantum Donovan LLC between January 2021 and October 2022, a Doj of July 17 rack supposedly.
Moore used his ties within the rugby community to build trust and to recruit victims in various states, including Washington, Utah, Oregon, Connecticut and New Jersey.
According to federal public prosecutors, Moore investors said that their money would be used to buy and exploit cryptocurrency -mining equipment. He promised the daily return of 1% and claimed that the operation would generate consistent profit through the work of mining installations.
In reality, Moore never bought mining equipment. Instead, he has diverted investors funds to personal bank accounts to finance a luxury lifestyle. Authorities said he used the money to pay for expensive apartments, electronics, designer clothing, luggage and travel.
As with most Ponzi schemes, Moore used part of the funds to buy cryptocurrency and spend small payouts to early investors to retain his facade and keep his activities long enough to lure new victims.
More than 40 people were cheated by the scheme. Many of them were friends, teammates and acquaintances who trusted Moore on the basis of his personal reputation in the rugby community. Total losses for victims exceeded $ 387,000, according to judicial archives.
For his crimes, the American district judge Tana Lin Moore ordered to serve in the federal prison for 30 months and to pay a refund, although the exact repayment details were not announced.
While the Moore victims arranged almost $ 900,000, others have run similar disadvantages on a much larger scale.
Last month the DOJ handed a 97-month penalty to Dwayne Golden, the operator of a separate Ponzi schedule of $ 40 million disguised as a crypto investment platform.
Golden and his fellow samplers operated fake platforms, including empowercoin, Ecoinplus and Jet-Cain, between 2017 and 2018. They promised guaranteed returns of overseas crypto-trade, but used the deposits to pay existing investors and enrich themselves.
Authorities said that Golden later tried to hinder federal research by submitting false information and destroying evidence, and he was ordered to forfeit $ 2.46 million, with extra refund in treatment.
Because cryptocurrencies mainstream and becoming increasingly lucrative, they have also become an excellent goal for fraud. According to the FBI’s internet crime complaints center, more than 50% of all reported crypto losses were attributed to investment scam in 2024.
