Ex-Deutsche Bank Investment Banker Charged With U.S. Crypto Fraud CryptoBlog

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An investment banker formerly employed by Deutsche Bank has been accused of perpetrating crypto-related fraud. The Brooklyn man has been accused of embezzling funds from victims who he promised large returns on cryptocurrency investments in a Ponzi scheme.

Ex-Deutsche Bank investment banker arrested and charged for defrauding crypto investors

Rashawn Russell, a 27-year-old investment banker and registered broker from Brooklyn, New York, was arrested on April 10 on criminal charges related to his alleged role in running a crypto investment fraud scheme, the US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

Prosecutors claim Russel defrauded several investors, luring them with promises of large and even guaranteed returns on cryptocurrency investments and exchanges. However, he used their money for his own benefit, to gamble and pay off other investors to keep the program going.

The indictment alleges that the defendant repeatedly failed to provide investors with promised rates of return. And when some of them asked to be reimbursed for their investments, he falsely represented that he had wired the money to them.

While the document only mentions that he worked as an investment banker between July 2018 and November 2021, Reuters reported that Russel became an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank in July 2018 and was promoted to partner in July. 2020.

Declining to comment specifically on an ongoing legal case, the bank said through a spokesperson that it routinely supports law enforcement and regulatory oversight efforts, including responding and cooperating in a manner appropriate to authorized investigations and proceedings.

Russell solicited investments from friends, former classmates and colleagues, whom he convinced had developed a successful strategy for trading altcoins, details Bloomberg in a report. He is charged with one count of wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The banker pleaded not guilty and was released on $200,000 bond.

Russell turned the demand for cryptocurrency investments into a scheme to defraud many investors to fund his lifestyle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said.

This bureau will continue to aggressively pursue fraudsters who commit these schemes against investors in digital asset markets, he stressed. Russels’ indictment comes amid an ongoing crackdown on crypto-related fraud in the United States.

Tags in this story Altcoins, Bank, broker, Fees, Crypto, Crypto Fraud, crypto investments, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Deutsche Bank, Fraud, fraud scheme, impeachment, investment banker, Investments, Investors , US, US, Victims

Do you think US prosecutors and regulators will step up the crackdown on crypto investment fraud schemes? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a tech-savvy Eastern European journalist who loves Hitchens’ quote: Being a writer is who I am, rather than what I do. Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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