IcomTech Promoter Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Magdaleno Mendoza, a senior promoter behind the collapsed crypto platform IcomTech, has been sentenced to 71 months in federal prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that preyed on working-class, Spanish-speaking investors across the United States.
IcomTech masqueraded as a cryptocurrency mining and trading company, luring victims with promises of "guaranteed returns" from mid-2018 until its collapse in late 2019. The operation functioned as a classic multi-level marketing scam, recycling new investor funds to pay earlier participants while Mendoza and other promoters siphoned hundreds of thousands for personal enrichment.
The court ordered Mendoza to repay $789,218.94 to victims and forfeit $1.5 million in ill-gotten gains, including a California home purchased with scheme proceeds. The sentencing underscores growing regulatory scrutiny of crypto investment schemes targeting vulnerable populations.
