An appellate court has upheld the fraud conviction of Randall Crater, the founder of cryptocurrency project My Big Coin, who was sentenced to over eight years in prison.
In a filing for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Feb. 23, a three-judge panel affirmed Crater’s conviction, which came more than a year after a jury found him guilty of multiple charges, including wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Appellate Judges Gustavo Gelpí, Jeffrey Howard, and Julie Rikelman issued opinions stating that Crater was not entitled to a new trial for his involvement in the crypto scheme.
Crater’s legal team argued that the court violated his Sixth Amendment rights by not enforcing subpoenas against witnesses he believed would support his case and by including testimony from a crypto expert he claimed was unqualified — Pamela Clegg, vice president of financial investigations at blockchain intelligence firm CipherTrace. However, the judges concluded that no argument by Crater’s counsel warranted reversal.
The appellate filing noted that CipherTrace’s investigation revealed that My Big Coin (MBC) was not associated with a public blockchain and lacked a crucial indicator of operating as a cryptocurrency until June 2017, well after Crater had marketed MBC as a virtual currency comparable to Bitcoin.
Crater founded My Big Coin in 2013, falsely marketing the firm as a crypto payment service. He garnered approximately $7.6 billion in ill-gotten gains from 55 victims between 2014 and 2017 by claiming the platform’s tokens were backed by gold and that the firm had partnered with Mastercard for a user credit card.
The Justice Department filed criminal charges against Crater in February 2019. He was convicted in January 2023 and sentenced to 100 months in prison. Additionally, he was ordered to pay more than $7.6 million in restitution to victims, funds that prosecutors stated he used to purchase a home, cars, and antiques.
U.S. authorities have pursued criminal charges against other notable figures in the crypto space, including former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Zhao pleaded guilty to one felony count and awaits sentencing in April, while Bankman-Fried was convicted of seven counts in November, with sentencing scheduled for March 28. Mashinsky’s trial is set for September.
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