⚖️ $577M Crypto Ponzi — HashFlare Founders Walk With Time Served

[AIcash]

The players: Sergei Potapenko & Ivan Turõgin, co-founders of HashFlare, a once-hyped crypto mining company.
The charge: Running what prosecutors called a “classic Ponzi scheme” that pulled in over $577M from 440,000+ customers.
️ What Went Down

Between 2015–2019, HashFlare sold “cloud mining” contracts — except much of the supposed mining power? Fake. Dashboards showed phantom performance, and payouts came from new investors’ deposits, not actual mining.

Prosecutors say the founders used millions to:

Buy Bitcoin, luxury cars, jewelry

Snap up real estate

Take more than a dozen private jet trips

The Outcome

Sentence: Time served (16 months in custody)

Fines: $25K each

Community Service: 360 hours each in Estonia

Supervised Release: Served in home country

Assets Forfeited: Over $400M returned as part of plea deal

The DOJ wanted 10 years behind bars, calling it the largest fraud case in Seattle’s court history. But the judge noted many customers actually withdrew more than they invested, with $2.3B paid out over the years.
The Takeaway

Even in crypto’s “wild west,” big fraud cases don’t always end with long sentences — especially when asset recovery muddies the definition of victim losses.
But the HashFlare saga is a reminder: if mining returns look too good to be true, they probably are.

#CryptoNews #PonziScheme #HashFlare #BTC #CryptoScams #DYOR

[Maxwell]

Time served + $25K fines for a $577M scheme… crypto justice really is its own universe.

[Nahiar806]

The asset recovery angle definitely softened the hammer, but the “phantom mining” dashboards are straight out of a scam playbook.

[rafihasan]

Biggest fraud case in Seattle court history — and still a reminder that in crypto, flashy numbers on a screen don’t mean real profits.