A federal judge sentenced a cryptocurrency fraudster named Jerry Ji Guo to prison and return the funds he embezzled from his victims.
Court documents showed that the current value of the cash and cryptocurrency Guo stole from investors is more than $20 million.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ordered Guo to pay over $4.39 million in restitution to cryptocurrency investors whom he defrauded. Judge Freeman also sentenced him to six months in prison and a three-year period of supervised release.
In November 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Guo and charged him with eight counts of wire fraud.
In August 2019, Guo pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and the judge dismissed the remaining counts.
In his plea, he admitted defrauding investors in connection with an initial coin offering (ICO). He deceived investors by representing himself as an ICO consultant and promising to provide marketing and publicity services. Instead of performing his promised services, Guo embezzled the investors’ cash and cryptocurrency.
