The founders of Hashflare, a crypto mining company behind a $ 577 million Ponzi procedure, escaped further jail hours after admitting their duties to the scheme.
Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin were in 16 months, and the Seattle Federal Court Judge Robert Lasnik gave them time served at their hearing on Tuesday.
He also ordered each other to pay a $ 25,000 fine and complete 360 hours of service to the community during the administered release, which is expected to be served in their native Estonia.
The Department of Justice Says On Tuesday considering whether it should appeal to the sentence as prosecutors demanded that the duo be confined for 10 yearsWhile Potapenko and Turõgin have Seek the time served.
The pair was arrested in Estonia in November 2022 and spent 16 months of caution before being laid out in the US in May 2024, where they Pleaded guilty in conspiracy to make wire fraud.
Largest case of court history fraud
Seattle’s prosecutors said this is the biggest case of fraud they have tried, an argument that they have taken over pushing the pair to get 10 years in prison.
Judge Lasnik appeared to find merit on Potapenko and Turõgin arguments that 440,000 customers they accused of getting rid of did not suffer big losses as they forgive more than $ 400 million worth of possession as part of their request in February.
Hashflare founders also mentioned that 390,000 to customers spent $ 487 million in Hashflare Mining Contracts since retreating $ 2.3 billion.
Hashflare a “classic ponzi,” prosecutors said
Prosecutors have argued that between 2015 and 2019, Hashflare’s sales have reached more than $ 577 million, posting fake dashboards that incorrectly reported the company’s mining capacity and returning investors are working from the scheme. This paid existing members with funds from newer customers.
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“These defendants run a classic Ponzi method, involving a glitzy asset: a cryptocurrency mining mirage,” US lawyer Teal Luthy Miller said in the DOJ’s statement.
“Like a classic Ponzi, they divert millions of dollars to their own benefits, buying their own Bitcoin, real estate, luxury car, expensive jewelry, and more than a dozen trips to chartered private jets.”
The pair was told to “self-deport” before the cultivation
Despite a court who ordered Potapenko and Turõgin to stay in the US, the pair said in April that they received a letter from Department of Homeland Security Directing them to “throw away immediately” – causing great confusion to their future, their lawyers said at that time.
Hashflare founders have expressed their Want to go back home on many occasions.
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