Major Players in $100M Crypto Scam Face Jail Time

 Three key figures in the AirBit Club’s massive cryptocurrency fraud have been sentenced to prison. Scott Hughes, pivotal in laundering about $18 million of the club’s proceeds, will spend 18 months behind bars. Cecilia Millan and Karina Chairez, both senior promoters, have been sentenced to five years and a little over a year, respectively, according to cryptonews.

AirBit Club’s co-founder, Pablo Renato Rodriguez, previously received a 12-year sentence, while his counterpart, Gutemberg Dos Santos, awaits his fate. All pleaded guilty, leading to their convictions. Moreover, they’re now obligated to surrender their unlawful earnings amounting to nearly $100 million, comprising Bitcoin, U.S. currency, and property.

Initiated in 2015, AirBit Club duped investors with assurances of steady returns through club memberships. Portrayed as a lucrative crypto MLM initiative, it professed profits from mining and trading. Yet, participants soon confronted challenges accessing their money and encountered concealed charges.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams highlighted the culprits’ deceptive practices. While Millan and Chairez lured innocent investors, Hughes misused his legal stature for money laundering. Williams accentuated the need to penalize all engaged in deceptive crypto ventures to ensure accountability.