Ace Hello there!
Welcome back to the first edition of your crypto news recap for April 2024. We will cover three big news stories from the last two weeks.
This edition will include an individual sentenced to three years in prison, Russian police seizing Bitcoin mines, and another sudden collapse of a crypto exchange.
Sit back and relax as we give you all the details.
Story 1: A hacker faces three years in prison after stealing millions from crypto exchanges
A man who stole more than $12m from two cryptocurrency exchanges now faces years behind bars.
Shakeeb Ahmed, a security engineer who stole from decentralized crypto exchanges, was sentenced on Friday, April 12, to three years in prison.
Since his arrest last year for wire fraud and money laundering charges, Ahmed pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud.
As well as serving a three-year sentence, he will repay $12.3m and an additional $5m as a result of his actions.
Those inside the case wanted Ahmed to face a four-year sentence, but he had accepted responsibility by pleading guilty, and therefore the potential sentence was cut short.
Thank god another criminal has been punished.
Story 2: Russian police crackdown on illegal crypto mining
Russian police have seized more than 3,000 crypto mining rigs after raiding several large data centres in Siberia.
Rossetti, the Russian power provider, said the centres were operating as part of an interconnected network, located in different parts of Novosibirsk.
Rossetti believes that the miners stole $2.1m worth of electricity from the city grid.
When searching, officers confiscated nine power transformers in addition to the 3,000+ cryptocurrency mining machines.
It is believed this is just the start of a strict crackdown on the number of illegal cryptocurrency mines in Novosibirsk.
Keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks to see how this story develops.
Story 3: Australian crypto mining companies quickly fall apart
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has been given the go-ahead from a Federal Court to appoint receivers for digital assets held by a group of collapsed crypto mining companies.
ASIC launched proceedings against a trio of crypto mining firms, known as NGS Companies. The proceedings also included the directors – Brett Mendham, Ryan Brown, and Mark Ten Caten.
The high court has restricted Brett Mendham from leaving Australia. The regulator decided on this because it is believed investors are at risk of losing their money.
As a result of the sudden collapse, 450 investors are without their money, totaling more than $41m. The companies targeted investors with large sums of money, promising to convert their cash into cryptocurrency.
The regulator is now holding all three companies accountable for illegally marketing investment products backed by crypto mining.
It’s sad to see how often investors are getting caught by fraudsters. Fingers crossed it stops!
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