Crypto Ponzi scheme AirBit: All but one exec now sentenced

cointelegraph.com:

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is progressing with the sentencing procedure for key individuals behind the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme AirBit Club.

On Oct. 3, the office of the U.S. attorney for New York announced the sentencing of three of the five surviving defendants in the AirBit case, including Scott Hughes, Cecilia Millan and Karina Chairez. The sentences came months after all three defendants pleaded guilty to money laundering and other charges in the AirBit case in early 2023.

Hughes, an attorney who allegedly laundered approximately $18 million in AirBit Club fraud proceeds, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Millan, a senior-level promoter of AirBit Club, was sentenced to five years in prison. Chairez, another senior-level promoter of AirBit Club, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Additionally, Hughes was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Millan and Chairez were also sentenced to three years and three months of supervised release, respectively.

The AirBit Club scheme was launched in late 2015 and was promoted as a “multi-level marketing club” in the cryptocurrency industry. The defendants provided promising presentations to trick investors into thinking that AirBit Club had guaranteed daily returns from crypto mining and trading. But instead of funding AirBit’s promoted crypto operations — which in fact had never been the case — $100 million of investors’ money went to the pockets of its founders and promoters.

Despite some users complaining about withdrawal delays and hidden fees in early 2016, AirBit Club managed to maintain its fraudulent activity until 2020.

Announcing the sentences, U.S. attorney Damian Williams stressed that Hughes, Millan