Crypto Ponzi Scheme Mastermind Will get 8 Years for $40M Investor Fraud—DOJ Confirms

Dwayne Golden of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to over eight years in federal jail for his position in a $40 million crypto Ponzi scheme, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Justice.

The sentence was delivered by Decide William F. Kuntz II in a Brooklyn federal courtroom. The 57 years outdated man had pleaded responsible in September 2024 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and cash laundering.

In line with the prosecutor, Golden and his co-conspirators, Gregory Aggesen, Marquis Demacking Egerton (also called “Mardy Eger”), and William White, created and operated fraudulent funding platforms.

These embody EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin, between April and August 2017. These web sites promised traders mounted earnings by way of abroad crypto buying and selling.

No Actual Buying and selling Took Place: DOJ Exposes Crypto Rip-off Community

United States Legal professional Nocella famous that the businesses solely lured traders with guarantees of assured excessive returns from abroad cryptocurrency buying and selling. Nonetheless, prosecutors say not one of the corporations engaged in any actual buying and selling exercise.

As an alternative, the defendants used incoming investor funds to pay earlier traders or diverted the cash for private use, in line with a Ponzi scheme.

FBI Assistant Director Raia famous that the platforms raised greater than $40 million in complete. After the schemes collapsed, the defendants tried to cover their crimes by obstructing federal investigations.

Between July 2017 and March 2022, Golden, Aggesen, and White tried to hinder each a Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) inquiry and a federal grand jury investigation. Authorities mentioned they destroyed key proof and gave false and deceptive statements to investigators.

Notably, William White was beforehand sentenced to 30 months in jail for his position. In the meantime, Aggesen and Egerton have pleaded responsible and are awaiting sentencing.

As a part of his sentence, Golden was additionally ordered to forfeit roughly $2.46 million in unlawful beneficial properties. The courtroom will resolve on restitution to victims at a later date.

Victims Might Be Eligible for Restitution

In a glimmer of hope, The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace inspired victims of EmpowerCoin.com, ECoinPlus.com, or Jet-Coin.com to submit restitution claims by way of the FBI.

“This workplace is dedicated to defending traders and holding fraudsters accountable,” mentioned U.S. Legal professional Joseph Nocella. “We’ll proceed to pursue justice for these harmed.”

Earlier this month, 5 people admitted guilt in a separate case involving a $36.9 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme. The group tricked U.S. residents and funneled the stolen funds to a crypto rip-off operation based mostly in Cambodia.

With crypto-related scams rising, CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu reported greater than $2.1 billion already misplaced in 2025. Nearly all of these losses stem from compromised wallets and poor non-public key administration.

Relatably, The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture grievance to grab $225.3 million in Tether’s USDT, marking the biggest crypto seizure tied to a “pig butchering” funding rip-off.

DOJ officers famous that the motion is a part of a broader crackdown on transnational scams, with over $9.3 billion in crypto losses reported in 2024, and $5.8 billion linked on to funding fraud.

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