Brooklyn federal court sentenced Dwayne Golden to 97 months for running a $40 million Ponzi scheme dressed up as a digital asset investment empire. He duped investors with flashy promises and zero actual trading. He ran a full-blown crypto con that spanned five years and three companies.
The scammer ran a trio of crypto ventures, EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin. Each company promised fixed and guaranteed returns to investors from cutting-edge trading operations. Victims were told their money was being used in overseas digital asset trades. However, there were no trades or tech involved and it was just an old-school Ponzi scheme cloaked in Web3 marketing.
Crypto scammer jailed
As per the notice, Golden and his co-defendants used the new money to pay off old investors, or more often, they just pocketed it. Once the whole façade collapsed, the accused didn’t confess and conspired to obstruct multiple federal investigations. The court added to the sentence and ordered to forfeiture of approx. $2.46 million in ill-gotten gains. However, the restitution to victims will be determined later.
Between 2017 and 2022, Golden and his co-conspirators, Gregory Aggesen, William White, and Marquis “Mardy Eger” Egerton, launched a coordinated effort to obstruct justice. They destroyed documents, fed fake information to regulators, and lied under oath in response to grand jury subpoenas.
US Attorney Joseph Nocella stated that “Golden and his co-defendants took advantage of investor excitement in new technologies to perpetrate a fraud as old as time. He added that they offered no legitimate services. There was no trading. It was a lie from the start.” FBI Assistant Director Christopher Raia mentioned that Golden misled clients and investigators alike. He had zero integrity. He added that this sentencing shows we’re coming for every sham company that steals from unsuspecting victims.
The other conspirator in the scam, William White, has already been sentenced to 30 months, while Aggesen and Egerton are awaiting their day in court. However, all four defendants have pleaded guilty.
Americans lost $12.5B to fraud in 2024
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission has released new data showing that American consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024. This marks a staggering 25% increase over the previous year.
The agency received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, nearly the same amount as in 2023. The percentage of individuals who reported losing money when targeted by fraud rose sharply from 27% in 2023 to 38% in 2024. Investment scams were the most financially damaging, accounting for $5.7 billion in losses. It’s an increase of 24% compared to 2023.
Imposter scams have resulted in losses amounting to $2.95 billion. Consumers are reported to be losing more money via bank transfers and cryptocurrency payments than through all other payment methods combined.
Online shopping issues were the second most commonly reported in the fraud category. This was followed by business and job opportunities, as it reported losses totaled $750.6 million, up nearly $250 million from 2023.
On the market side, the global digital assets cap surged marginally on Saturday morning to stand at almost $3.3 trillion. Its 24-hour trading volume took a hit of 14% to land on $86.4 billion. Bitcoin price is up by more than 3% in the last 7 days, trading at $107,362.
Your crypto news deserves attention – KEY Difference Wire puts you on 250+ top sites
