Ex-Deutsche Bank Investment Banker Charged With Crypto Fraud
A former Deutsche Bank investment banking associate was charged with engaging in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme in which he falsely promised investors “guaranteed” returns.
Rashawn Russell, 27, was arrested on Monday by the US and accused of defrauding multiple investors by telling them their funds would be used for crypto investments, Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday in a statement. Russell, who is charged with wire fraud, faces as long as 20 years in prison if convicted, Peace said.
Prosecutors said Russell misappropriated the funds and used them for his personal benefit, including to gamble and repay other investors. He’s scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
“As alleged, Russell turned the demand for cryptocurrency investments into a scheme to defraud numerous investors in order to fund his lifestyle,” Peace said. “This office will continue to aggressively pursue fraudsters perpetrating these schemes against investors in the digital asset markets.”
Kurame James, a lawyer with the federal defenders office in Brooklyn, didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment on the indictment.
Dylan Riddle, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment.
The US said Russell, who worked for Deutsche Bank between 2018 and 2021, solicited investments from friends, former classmates and former colleagues, saying he worked in investment banking and was a licensed broker. He also claimed he’d developed a successful strategy to trade “altcoin” cryptocurrencies and had earned returns for his clients in excess of 100% over a three-month period, according to the US.
To induce people to invest with him, he falsely promised investors they would receive a guaranteed fixed return on their money, after three months, of as much as 25% and receive the total return generated by their investment after that time period, prosecutors said.
As part of the scheme, prosecutors said, Russell lied to investors about the status of their investments and even fabricated multiple documents that he sent them.
In one instance, they alleged, he sent one investor an altered image of a bank balance displayed on a bank website that purported to show the account had substantial liquidity. When another investor sought to recoup their investment, Russell never sent the money and instead sent the investor a fabricated bank wire transfer confirmation that purported to show the return of the investor’s money, according to prosecutors.
The case is US v. Rashawn Russell, 23-cr-152, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
From the indictment I estimate that this guy scammed people of somewhere around 1 million dollars. Bro… is 1M worth going to jail for? You’ll make that much in a few years in high finance, and then go on to make multiple times that each year. I seriously do not get why people scam for this little money.
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