tl;dr
Eugene William Austin Jr., a 62-year-old Long Island resident also known as "Hugh Austin," was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a $12 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen pro...
Long Island resident Eugene William Austin Jr., also known as "Hugh Austin," has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a $12 million cryptocurrency fraud. Convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen property, Austin, together with his son Brandon, defrauded over 24 victims by impersonating crypto brokers offering fake investments promising high returns on short-term deals.
Austin was ordered to forfeit more than $6 million and pay restitution exceeding $12 million, along with an additional three years of supervised release. His son Brandon previously received a four-year prison sentence for his involvement. The fraudulent gains financed a lavish lifestyle, including luxury hotels, restaurants, and a 2022 E-Pace P250 Jaguar SUV, which Austin forfeited upon his arrest.
The duo exploited their network, pitching bogus crypto deals, with individual scams ranging up to $5 million and many in the $500,000 range. They claimed to secure funding for startups through high-net-worth individuals but instead used the proceeds to sustain their fraud and make nominal payments to victims to keep the scheme afloat.
This case is among several significant Long Island crypto scams but is smaller when compared to a 2022 Ponzi scheme by Eddy Alexandre that defrauded over 25,000 investors of $248 million, resulting in a nine-year sentence. Alexandre targeted Long Island’s Haitian community through a fraudulent cryptocurrency and foreign exchange platform offering fake 5% returns.
The Austin case highlights the ongoing risks in the cryptocurrency world, emphasizing the need for vigilance among investors and the importance of regulatory and law enforcement efforts to tackle crypto fraud.