Former Deutsche Bank Employee and Registered Broker Receives 41-Month Sentence for Crypto Fraud
Tanzeel Akhtar
Updated: May 31, 2024 04:33 EDT | Reading Time: 1 min
Rashawn Russell, a former employee of Deutsche Bank and a registered broker with FINRA, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his involvement in a wire fraud and crypto fraud scheme that resulted in investors losing $1.5 million.
United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez handed down the sentence on Thursday and also ordered Russell to pay restitution of over $1.5 million to the victims of his fraudulent activities. Russell had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and access device fraud in September 2023.
During the period between November 2020 and August 2022, Russell orchestrated a fraud scheme in which he convinced multiple victims to invest with him by making false promises about using their funds for cryptocurrency investments and guaranteeing substantial returns.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) stated that Russell misappropriated a significant portion of the victims’ assets for his personal benefit, gambling, and repaying other investors. He failed to repay the victims’ principal investments and did not deliver the promised rates of return. When some victims requested repayment, Russell falsely claimed to have wired them money.
Between September 2021 and June 2023, Russell fraudulently obtained at least 97 credit or debit cards and 43 identification cards in the names of third parties. He often acquired these devices from gym lockers in New York and New Jersey, intending to use them for unauthorized transactions.
Russell was previously a registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Deutsche Bank has not been implicated in any wrongdoing related to Russell’s case.
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