Crypto Fraudster Sentenced to 8 Years for $40M Ponzi Scheme

Dwayne Golden, a 57-year-old man from Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 97 months, or approximately eight years, in prison for his involvement in operating fraudulent crypto firms EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin. Golden, along with his co-conspirators Gregory Aggesen and Marquis Demacking Egerton, ran these firms between April 2017 and August 2017, promising investors fixed returns on digital asset investments through purported overseas operations. The defendants raised over $40 million, which they used to repay existing investors or themselves in what the Department of Justice describes as a "Ponzi scheme."

The scheme involved Golden and his co-conspirators taking advantage of investor interest in new technologies to perpetrate a fraud that is as old as time. They offered no legitimate services, and none of the companies engaged in any actual trading in cryptocurrency as they claimed. Instead of deploying funds into digital asset trading as advertised, the group used incoming money to pay off earlier investors — a classic Ponzi scheme. Once the firms collapsed, Golden, Aggesen, and another co-conspirator William White conspired to obstruct federal investigations by destroying evidence and providing false or misleading information to the Federal Trade Commission and a federal grand jury subpoena between July 2017 to March 2022.

Golden must also forfeit about $2.46 million in illicitly procured assets along with serving 97 months in prison. All four defendants pleaded guilty, with White receiving a 30-month (2.5-year) prison sentence and Aggesen and Egerton awaiting sentencing as of June 27. Golden, along with Aggesen and Egerton, were first charged with fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes in March 2022 for their role in operating EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin.

This case highlights the ongoing risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, particularly those that promise high returns with little risk. Investors are advised to conduct thorough due diligence and be wary of schemes that sound too good to be true. The sentencing of Golden and his co-conspirators serves as a reminder of the severe consequences that await those who engage in such fraudulent activities. The U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella emphasized that the defendants' businesses were merely a facade, with no real crypto trading or legitimate services, only lies and payouts to sustain the fraud.