"CluCoin Founder's Gambling Addiction Lands Him in Prison"

The founder of CluCoin and Goobers NFT, Austin Michael Taylor, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for gambling away investor funds. The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to a telecommunications fraud charge in August 2024, involving fraudulent transfers. According to court documents, Taylor regularly diverted funds intended for CluCoin-related activities to finance his online gambling addiction starting in 2022.

After launching the CLU token on the BNB Chain in 2021, Taylor shifted CluCoin's focus to other projects, including minting the "Goobers" series of NFTs and a play-to-earn web3 game called Gridlock, as well as the "Xenia" metaverse platform. In early 2023, Taylor admitted to investors that he had lost all of their funds through gambling.

Taylor requested the court to exempt him from imprisonment, citing his status as a military veteran. However, he was sentenced to 27 months in prison, with the possibility of paying restitution and forfeiting assets totaling $1.14 million. The maximum sentence for telecommunications fraud is 20 years.