🚨 HashFlare Founders Walk Free After Serving Time in $577M Crypto Ponzi Case 🚨
Two Estonian entrepreneurs, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin — the masterminds behind the infamous cloud mining company HashFlare — have escaped additional prison time in what the U.S. Department of Justice calls the largest crypto fraud ever investigated.
Federal Judge Robert Lasnik sentenced both to 16 months in prison — already served since their 2022 arrest — meaning they will avoid more time behind bars. But their punishment doesn’t end there:
💰 $25,000 fine each
⚖ 360 hours of community service
🏠 Forfeiture of $450M+ in assets — including real estate, luxury cars, cryptocurrencies, jewelry, and mining equipment.
These assets, seized with help from international partners, are meant for victim compensation — though details on payouts remain unclear.
🕵 How the $577M Scheme Worked
From 2015 to 2019, HashFlare sold cloud mining contracts to over 440,000 customers worldwide, promising massive Bitcoin mining power. In reality? Less than 1% of the mining they claimed ever happened.
They collected $550M from unsuspecting customers, and in 2017, they added another $25M through a fake "Polybus digital bank" project. Instead of delivering returns, prosecutors say the founders funded a lavish lifestyle — crypto holdings, private jets, luxury properties, and more.
⚖ Defense vs. Prosecution
The defense argued that customers withdrew more than they invested — citing $2.3B in withdrawals — and claimed “no one suffered actual financial harm.” Prosecutors disagreed, calling it a classic Ponzi scheme with fabricated mining data and fake records.
📌 What’s Next?
Prosecutors are considering an appeal to challenge the ruling and push for harsher measures, while the crypto community watches closely for updates on when and how victims will get compensated
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