- A former investment banker at Deutsche Bank has pleaded guilty to crypto fraud.
- The banker duped investors into funding his personal lifestyle.
- His guilty plea comes with restitution conditions and a possible prison sentence.
Rashawn Russell, a former associate investment banker at Deutsche Bank, has pleaded guilty to multiple criminal counts commissioned in furtherance of the infamous R3 Crypto Fund fraud.
Russell was first arraigned before the federal court in Brooklyn in April on an indictment charging him with orchestrating an elaborate million-dollar crypto investment scheme to fund his lifestyle.
A Scheme Built on Fraud and Deception
According to a September 19 press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Russell pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a scheme that defrauded clients of the R3 Crypto Fund and one count of engaging in a separate identity theft scheme.
Sponsored
“Russell leveraged investor interest in cryptocurrency markets to perpetrate a scheme to defraud clients who trusted him,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said.
As a former registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Russell allegedly exploited the trust of 29 investor clients who lost over $1.5M to his scheme. In addition to the fraud, Russell fraudulently obtained over 15 credit cards between September 2021 and June 2023 with the intention of using them for unauthorized transactions.
While Russell often claimed that the fund would yield large and sometimes “guaranteed” returns through cryptocurrency investments, he allegedly plundered the money and fabricated multiple bank documents to assure investors of his “substantial liquidity.”
Fund Misappropriation
The prosecution alleges that contrary to what Russell made the investors believe, he used their money from the R3 Crypto Fund to gamble, repay earlier investors, and pay his personal expenses.
Sponsored
As part of the plea agreement, Russell has agreed to pay a restitution of over $1.5 million, and he risks facing up to 30 years in prison upon sentencing.
Read more about the lawyer who was convicted in OneCoin crypto fraud saga:
OneCoin Lawyer Loses Appeal in $400M Money Laundering Case
Read more about crypto’s most wanted criminals:
Crypto’s Most Wanted Criminals: Ruja Ignatova and Other Cryptocurrency Crooks
