Estonian Nationals Plead Guilty in $577M HashFlare Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Two Estonian citizens pleaded guilty yesterday to running a massive cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide, including in the United States.
The scheme involved a fraudulent crypto-mining service called HashFlare, resulting in investor losses of over $577 million.
Founders Agree to Forfeit $400M in Assets
According to court documents, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, both 40, sold contracts to customers, entitling them to a share of crypto mined by their purported crypto mining service.
Between 2015 and 2019, HashFlare’s sales totaled more than $577 million. However, the firm did not have the necessary computing power to perform most of the mining it claimed to carry…
