Titanium Blockchain (TBIS) CEO Alan Stolleri has been sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison for a $21 million cryptocurrency fraud, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice. Stolleri raised this amount during the initial offering (ICO) of BAR tokens from investors from the US and other countries.
Titanium Blockchain was one of the many crypto projects that raised funds in 2017 and 2018 during the surge in the popularity of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) fundraising method – an analogue of IPO. Stolleri promoted his cryptocurrency investment platform and invited users to invest in the BAR token at its initial offering. At the same time, according to the US Department of Justice, he used false statements and falsified documents.
The founder of TBIS posted fake customer testimonials on the platform’s website and claimed he had business dealings with the US Federal Reserve and dozens of high-profile companies.
In July 2022, he pleaded guilty to fraud and to using at least a portion of investors’ funds for personal expenses such as credit card payments and paying bills for his condominium in Hawaii. In this case, the founder of Titanium Blockchain faced up to 20 years in prison.
In early February, the creator of the fake cryptocurrency My Big Coin (MBC), Randall Crater, was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for fraud and illegal financial transactions. Crater’s victims were 55 people who invested about $7.5 million in the MBC project. According to the prosecution, some of this money was spent by Crater on luxury goods – cars, jewelry, works of art and old coins.