Crypto Influencer Gets 1-Year Prison Sentence for $3.5M Cloud Mining Fraud—Here’s What Went Down
A high-profile crypto influencer just got a harsh reality check—12 months behind bars for orchestrating a $3.5 million cloud mining scam. The scheme promised sky-high returns but delivered handcuffs instead.
How It Unfolded
Luring investors with the dream of passive income from 'cutting-edge' cloud mining, the influencer spun a web of too-good-to-be-true ROI claims. Spoiler: it was. Victims piled in, only to watch their digital assets vanish into thin air.
The Fallout
Regulators slammed the hammer down hard—proving even crypto’s wild west has sheriffs. The sentence sends a clear message: fraud doesn’t fly, even in decentralized finance. (Though let’s be real—somewhere, a Wall Street banker is laughing into their bonus check.)
Bottom Line
Caveat emptor still rules in crypto. If an influencer’s pitch sounds like free money, it’s probably someone else’s—yours.
Crypto Influencer Avoids 50-Year Sentence, Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud
Parks pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December. Initially, he also faced charges of money laundering and unlawful transactions that carried a maximum sentence of up to 50 years.
“Charles Parks manipulated technology, stole millions in computer resources, and illegally mined cryptocurrency — and today’s sentencing holds him fully accountable,” said New York City Police Department commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.
According to prosecutors, Parks told one cloud provider he was building an online training company focused on media, technology, and business strategy, claiming it WOULD serve 10,000 students.
“In reality, there was no training company, and there were no students,” the DOJ said. Instead, the resources were directed toward crypto mining operations.
When providers raised concerns about unusual usage patterns and unpaid balances, Parks deflected questions while continuing to exploit the systems.
Today the US Attorney's Office, Eastern Dist. of NY unsealed an indictment charging Charles O. Parks III a.k.a. "CP3O", with operating a large-scale illegal cryptojacking op
He defrauded cloud comp. services out of $3.5mil+ worth of computing resources to mine crypto worth $1mil pic.twitter.com/geXt5BKax6
Prosecutors said Parks laundered the mined crypto through exchanges, an NFT marketplace, payment processors, and banks, converting it into cash to fund a luxury lifestyle. Purchases included a Mercedes-Benz, jewelry, and first-class travel.
An April 2024 indictment revealed that Parks had accounts with a subsidiary of a Seattle-based cloud and electronics company and a Redmond-based computing firm, both of which were defrauded.
As part of his sentence, Parks was ordered to forfeit $500,000 and his Mercedes-Benz, with restitution to be determined later.
Prosecutors said Parks attempted to leverage his illicit gains to build credibility as a crypto influencer.
He posted content online promoting a “MultiMillionaire Mentality” and ran a coaching platform offering self-improvement subscriptions for $10 per month, with one-on-one consulting for $150 — payable in his own token.
Investor Loses $3M in Crypto Phishing Scam
As reported, a cryptocurrency investor has fallen victim to a phishing scam, losing $3.05 million in Tether (USDT) after unknowingly signing a malicious blockchain transaction.
The loss, flagged by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on Wednesday, underscores the rising threat of phishing attacks targeting digital asset holders.
The attacker exploited a common habit among crypto users: validating only the first and last few characters of a wallet address while ignoring the middle.
Crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches in the first half of 2025, driven largely by wallet compromises and phishing attacks, according to CertiK’s latest security report.
Wallet breaches alone caused $1.7 billion in losses across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for over $410 million across 132 attacks.
