MIAMI (WSVN) - A federal grand jury in Miami on Wednesday indicted a man running a fraudulent cryptocurrency and stock investment scheme with eight counts of wire fraud.
Ryan James Crawford, 30, appeared in Denver federal court on Monday after being arrested in Colorado.
According to the charges from June 2020 through March 22, Crawford tricked his victims into investing approximately $800,000 in his scheme. He accomplished this by claiming to be a successful licensed stockbroker who made millions of dollars through other cryptocurrency investments and holdings.
Crawford also claimed that he had access to enough money to pay off potential investors immediately and falsely claimed that he developed artificial intelligence trading software that he would never lose.
It also misrepresented the investment as low risk, high reward.
Crawford was accused of failing to return the funds to any of his victims and generating the massive returns he promised. On a few occasions, he siphoned off investor funds and cryptocurrency for personal use, such as paying for luxury cars and gambling at the casino.
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