Founder of $7.5M 'brazen fraud scheme' to see 8 years behind bars

cointelegraph.com:

Founder of “My Big Coin” and convicted fraudster Randall Crater has been sentenced to 100 months in prison and has been ordered to pay over $7.6 million to the victims of his fraudulent scheme. 

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Jan. 31 that Crater was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Denise Casper in Massachusetts.

The sentence comes around six months after Crater was convicted by a federal jury on Jul. 21, 2022, on four counts of wire fraud, three counts of unlawful monetary transactions and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Randall Crater, the founder of "My Big Coin," a purported cryptocurrency company, was sentenced today to more than eight years in federal prison for a multi-million dollar fraud scheme uncovered by #FBI Boston and @USPIS_BOS. https://t.co/567NYPndRU pic.twitter.com/a3eKaogij4

My Big Coin was founded by Crater in 2013 and falsely marketed as a cryptocurrency payment service, luring victims between 2014 and 2017.

Crater claimed the coins on My Big Coin were fully functional cryptocurrencies backed by gold and that the platform had a partnership with Mastercard.

Crater also marketed the “My Big Coin Exchange,” advertised as a crypto exchange where the coins could be swapped for U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies.

A significant portion of the $7.6 million obtained by Crater and his marketing team went towards a house, several cars and over $1 million in antiques, artwork and jewelry.

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement the damage done by Crater inflicted a serious amount of trauma and financial hardship on his victims:

“His lies and deception inflicted real trauma, pain and hardship on the lives of 55 individual victims and their