Dwayne Golden Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Involvement in Multiple Cryptocurrency Scams

BlockBeats News, June 28th, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement stating that 57-year-old Pennsylvania man Dwayne Golden was sentenced to 97 months (about 8 years) in prison for his involvement in operating a cryptocurrency scam, defrauding investors of $40 million. Golden, along with accomplices Gregory Aggesen and Marquis Demacking Egerton, operated the fraudulent cryptocurrency companies EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin from April to August 2017, falsely claiming to provide investors with a fixed return on digital assets through overseas operations.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella stated: "Golden and his cohorts exploited investors' interest in emerging technologies to carry out an age-old scam, profiting along the way. These companies did not provide legitimate services and never engaged in any actual cryptocurrency trading as they claimed." According to the announcement, after these companies collapsed, Golden and others obstructed the investigation by destroying evidence and providing false information to the Federal Trade Commission.

In addition to imprisonment, Golden is also required to forfeit approximately $2.46 million in illegal proceeds. All four defendants have pleaded guilty, with William White being sentenced to 30 months (2.5 years) in prison, and Aggesen and Egerton awaiting sentencing as of June 27th.

In March 2022, Golden and others were charged with fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes for operating the aforementioned companies.