Former SafeMoon CEO Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

BlockBeats News, February 11th. According to Coindesk, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on this Tuesday sentenced former SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony to 8 years in prison.

Braden was convicted last year of multiple federal charges for perpetrating investor fraud in his digital asset business. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Karony was involved in manipulating the SafeMoon token's price, illicitly controlling the company's liquidity, and stealing millions of dollars. After a three-week trial, he was found guilty of conspiring to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Co-conspirator Thomas Smith had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in February 2025 and is currently awaiting sentencing. Another alleged co-conspirator, Kyle Nagy, who is implicated in the SafeMoon fraud case, is still at large.

SafeMoon (SFM) is a cryptocurrency token launched in March 2021, born during the meme coin and DeFi craze of the previous bull market. Its tokenomics dictate that each transaction incurs a 10% tax, with a portion (usually 5%) automatically redistributed to all holders, another part added to the liquidity pool or burned to create deflation, and a portion allocated to project development. The design philosophy is to "reward holding, punish selling," allowing holders to passively earn more coins in the hope that the coin's price will "safely reach the moon." At one point, its market capitalization reached $1 billion, attracting a large number of retail investors and FOMO players. Subsequently, the project's contract was exploited, the team was accused of fraud, liquidity manipulation, and misappropriation of funds. After a prolonged period of decline, its market value now stands at only $2.08 million.