U.S. prosecutors appeal verdict in HashFlare fraud case involving $577 million

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, U.S. federal prosecutors have filed an application with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the lenient sentence given to the main perpetrators of the HashFlare cryptocurrency scam case. Estonian citizens Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin are suspected of defrauding 440,000 investors worldwide through a $577 million Ponzi scheme, with prosecutors describing the original sentence as "exceptionally lenient."

The two defendants have pleaded guilty, admitting to carrying out the scam through fake mining contracts between 2015 and 2019, misleading investors with fraudulent earnings dashboards, and using the proceeds to purchase luxury goods and pay returns to early investors. The original trial judge sentenced them only to three years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine each, while prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison term.

In sentencing, the judge considered factors such as the risk of "indefinite detention" that foreign defendants might face in the U.S. Legal experts have analyzed that the rationale for the sentence—based on "time already served, immigration risks, and restitution considerations"—is reasonable, and the Ninth Circuit Court usually respects the discretion of local judges, making it likely that the original sentence will be upheld.

Currently, $400 million has been confiscated to compensate victims, and the case has been described as the "largest fraud case" in the history of the Western District of Washington.