Benzinga - Reginald Fowler, a former minority owner of the Minnesota Vikings, has been ordered to forfeit $740 million and pay $53 million in restitution following a cryptocurrency scam that targeted the bankrupt Alliance of American Football (AAF) league.
What Happened: Fowler, 64, is also sentenced to over six years in prison for defrauding the AAF, according to federal prosecutors.
Authorities say Fowler lied to AAF executives about supporting the league, presenting the company with bank accounts that he claimed contained money from real estate investments. This ruse allowed him to enter into a stock purchase agreement, which would have made him the largest shareholder in the league's parent company.
In reality, the bank accounts that Fowler presented to the AAF were used to illegally swap digital currencies for cash. According to prosecutors, Fowler processed nearly $750 million in crypto transactions over a 10-month period, all without the knowledge of the banks whose accounts he was using.
It is unknown which cryptocurrencies Fowler used in his scam, leaving it unclear if he utilized popular options such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
Fowler's company, Global Trading Solutions, was a payment processor for Crypto Capital, a failed “shadow bank” that provided services to various cryptocurrency companies.
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Why It Matters: US attorney Damien Williams accused Fowler of violating anti-money laundering laws and misleading both the AAF and US banks. In addition to his sports investments, Fowler was also an owner of Kyrene OEM and Spiral Inc, the latter of which had departments in manufacturing and real estate.
Despite failing to acquire the Minnesota Vikings in 2005, Fowler later became a minority owner in 2014 until he ultimately lost his stake in the team. He declared bankruptcy after losing control of his companies and was left with $60 million in debt.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $25,780.80, down 4.12%, in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
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