Crypto Conman Caged: 97-Month Sentence for $40M Ponzi Scheme Unraveled
Another day, another crypto scammer learns the hard way that blockchain ledgers don’t lie—unlike their pitch decks.
The gavel drops hard
A federal judge just handed down a 97-month prison sentence to the mastermind behind a $40 million crypto Ponzi scheme. Turns out ‘guaranteed returns’ aren’t so guaranteed when the SEC comes knocking.
How the house of cards collapsed
Investors finally woke up to the smell of burnt tokens when withdrawals mysteriously froze—a classic exit scam move that somehow still works in 2025. Forensic accountants traced the money trail to luxury cars and a suspicious number of yacht club memberships.
The irony stings
This genius used crypto’s decentralization narrative to centralize funds… directly into his offshore accounts. A masterclass in ‘do as I say, not as I do’ financial advice.
Bonus jab: His sentence is roughly 1 month per $412,000 stolen—better ROI than most hedge funds this year.
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.
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