In case you were wondering about Reggie Fowler...
Ex-part owner of Minnesota Vikings gets over six years in cryptocurrency scam
Reginald Fowler, 64, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to six years and three months in prison and was ordered to forfeit $740 million and pay restitution of $53 million.
The Alliance of American Football met a speedy end in 2019 when it ran out of money.
Prosecutors said Fowler lied to the league's executives when he claimed to control bank accounts with tens of millions of dollars from real estate investments and government contracts that he could use to support the league.
In 2005, he tried to buy the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, becoming a minority owner before his involvement in the team ended in 2014.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Fowler broke the law by processing hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges that were used as a shadow bank.
''He did so by lying to legitimate U.S. financial institutions, which exposed the U.S. financial system to serious risk," Williams said. ''He then victimized a professional football league by lying about his net worth in exchange for a substantial portion of the league.''
In a sentencing submission, defense lawyer Edward Sapone wrote that Fowler was heartbroken that he let himself engage in crimes after over six decades of extraordinary contributions to family and community.
https://www.startribune.com/ex-part-owner-of-minnesota-vikings-gets-over-six-years-in-cryptocurrency-scam/600280320/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
So many fraudsters out there, acting like they are something when they are just pathetic liars and con artists. Its just so important for some people to have this persona of wealth and success.....I don't get how this guy put his head on his pillow at night and slept knowing that at any time he could be exposed.
@"StickyBun" said: So many fraudsters out there, acting like they are something when they are just pathetic liars and con artists. Its just so important for some people to have this persona of wealth and success.....I don't get how this guy put his head on his pillow at night and slept knowing that at any time he could be exposed.I think the con--the game, the grift--can be addictive for some.
I'm sure most of the money is already spent and/or safe from federal grasp. Always have to sigh when I read these stories. "Stole $700M... ordered to pay $50M in restitution". Not a bad racket if you can still sleep at night, I guess.
So what actually happened here?
Cryptocurrency exchanges wanted to facilitate transactions
in crypto, but the normal banks didn’t want to participate, so there was no
place to store the US dollars, so he opened bank accounts under non-crypto
reasons to store the US dollars in for the crypto exchanges? Basically he lied about why he was putting
the money in there? What was the risk to
the financial system that they’re talking about, beyond the crypto company
going bankrupt?
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