Oklahoma Man Gets Five-Year Sentence for $9.4M Crypto Ponzi Scheme

Federal prosecutors have sought a five-year jail sentence for an Oklahoma resident who admitted operating a fraudulent crypto funding scheme that lasted eight months earlier than collapsing.

Travis Ford, 36, was sentenced Thursday to 60 months in jail and ordered to pay greater than $1 million in forfeiture and greater than $170,000 in restitution, in keeping with a U.S. Division of Justice announcement launched Friday.

Ford will even serve three years of supervised launch following his jail time period. He pleaded responsible to at least one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in January.

As co-founder and CEO, Ford promoted Wolf Capital as a high-yield buying and selling platform and marketed each day income “between 1-2% per day, which equates to roughly 547% per 12 months,” in keeping with charging paperwork launched by the U.S. Division of Justice late final 12 months.

Wolf Capital “acquired roughly $9.4 million in investments from roughly 2,800 buyers,” the submitting stated.

Between January 2023 and roughly August 2023, Ford “solicited investments via the corporate web site and different social media and Web-based promotional actions,” in keeping with a abstract from the DOJ’s prison division. Ford “posed as a classy dealer who may obtain excessive returns,” regardless of understanding that “such returns couldn’t be achieved constantly,” the assertion stated.

Along with co-conspirators, Ford “made such false guarantees to induce members of the general public to take a position cash,” prosecutors wrote.

Particulars of the conviction had been first reported by a neighborhood newspaper on Thursday Tulsa World.

Ford reportedly instructed investigators that Wolf Capital Crypto’s operations had “paid out” between $4 million and $5 million to buyers earlier than the collapse, with the remaining cash misplaced via his personal buying and selling actions.

In a written plea settlement referenced in native reporting, Ford acknowledged that he “didn’t imagine these funding returns could possibly be achieved on a constant foundation.”

After investing greater than $100,000, one sufferer testified that he relied on Ford’s statements and instructed the courtroom he hoped the choose would impose a stiff sentence. Ford responded by saying he took “full duty” for the harm and stated he was “targeted on correcting the harm,” in keeping with the native report.

Declutter has contacted the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District of Oklahoma to request the ultimate judgment and ensure the main points of the sentence.

In an announcement to the native press, Ford’s consultant defined that their shopper “turned concerned with a European Block gangster often known as 0x through the Web,” and later “waded as much as his knees on this mess.”

It’s value noting that “0x” is a typical prefix in crypto communities, usually used for on-line handles or an abbreviation to point affinity inside crypto circles. The prefix seems in Ethereum addresses, sensible contract identification knowledge and different hex-coded knowledge derived from cryptography.

Declutter has contacted Ford’s authorized consultant for remark, in addition to particulars in regards to the particular person or group they known as 0x.