Convicted Broker Gambled with Money from $1.5M Crypto Scheme

Rashawn Russell, an ex-investment banker and former registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has been sentenced to prison. The 28-year-old was found guilty of engaging in a cryptocurrency-related scheme that defrauded multiple investors.

Court documents show that the Brooklyn man convinced multiple investors to give him money, promising them that he would use their money to make lucrative crypto investments. Russell went as far as promising “guaranteed returns” to his backers and telling them that they will win big.

In fact, Russell misappropriated much of the money he was given. Instead of using the money to make clever crypto investments, he used it to gamble, repay other investors and fund personal expenses.

To make matters worse, Russell failed to repay investors’ principal investments and failed to provide investors with promised rates of return. After some investors asked to be repaid, Russell falsely represented that he had wired the money to them.

According to court documents, Russell’s scheme resulted in approximately $1.5 million in investor losses.

Russell Is Also Guilty of a Credit Card Fraud

As it turns out, the crypto scheme wasn’t the only thing the man was sentenced for. In a separate fraud scheme, running from September 2021 to June 2023, Russell also used fraud to obtain at least 97 credit and debit cards, as well as 43 identification cards in the names of third parties.

He obtained the information from gym lockers in the states of New York and New Jersey, according to official information. The man would then use the credentials to open online gambling accounts and complete unauthorized transactions and purchases.

In September 2023, Russell pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and access device fraud. As a result, he was ordered to restitute the victims of his crypto scheme and will have to pay back over $1.5 million.

In addition, Russell was sentenced to three years and five months in prison.  

In other news, a 43-year-old bookkeeper from Melbourne was sentenced to a four-year community correction order after embezzling over AU$700,000 ($463,000) from her ex-partner’s transport company. The woman used the money to fuel a debilitating gambling addiction, according to reports.

Elsewhere, a scammer took a screenshot of another person’s winning snooker slip, passing it as his own and depriving the true winner of a $1,700 prize.