A Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man is dealing with many years behind bars after allegedly working a crypto funding scheme that triggered tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in losses for buyers.
Benjamin Paul Wiener was charged with wire fraud, cash laundering, financial institution fraud, and aggravated identification theft, says the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of South Dakota.
Federal prosecutors say Wiener ran a fraud scheme that triggered about $20 million in losses after allegedly convincing victims to take a position cash and digital forex along with his firms.
Authorities say Wiener used false statements and fraudulent representations to steer victims to place cash into firms he managed.
After receiving investor funds, Wiener allegedly moved the cash via monetary establishments and cryptocurrency exchanges to cover the place the funds got here from, who managed them and the place they had been going.
Prosecutors allege Wiener used the proceeds to cowl up the scheme and pay for private bills.
Authorities additionally allege that when investor funds ran low or when an investor requested for his or her a refund, Wiener sought new buyers and used the brand new funds to pay earlier buyers and proceed spending on himself.
He additionally allegedly used a number of entities to hold out the alleged fraud and cash laundering scheme, together with Benaiah Capital LLC, Benaiah Holdings, Benaiah Digital Mounted Revenue LP, Benaiah Digital LP, Benaiah Administration Firm, Benaiah Enterprises, Aslan Administration, LLC and Runway Four10.
Authorities say the scheme affected dozens of victims throughout the area, together with folks in South Dakota and Minnesota.
Prosecutors additionally accuse Wiener of defrauding a monetary establishment in Sioux Falls.
In April 2025, Wiener allegedly obtained a $1 million line of credit score by submitting falsified paperwork, data and correspondence to the financial institution.
Authorities say he additionally used one other individual’s private figuring out data with out authorization to safe the credit score line.
Wiener is now dealing with many years in jail and greater than $1 million in fines throughout 29 counts.
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