Former Deutsche Bank employee and FINRA registered broker, Rashawn Russell, aged 28, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for wire fraud and crypto fraud scheme that saw investors lose $1.5 million.

Russell was sentenced by United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez on Thursday and has been ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to victims of his fraud scheme. Russell pleaded guilty in September 2023 to wire fraud and access device fraud.

Russel Used Victims’ Assets to Gamble

In an announcement the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said between November 2020 to August 2022, Russell was involved in a fraud scheme which saw encouraged multiple victims to invest with him based on false promises that he would use their funds for cryptocurrency investments and that they would earn large—and sometimes guaranteed—returns.

“Russell misappropriated much of the victims’ assets and used them for his personal benefit, to gamble, and to repay other investors. Russell also repeatedly failed to repay the victims’ principal investments and failed to provide them with promised rates of return. After some victims requested to be repaid their investments, Russell falsely represented that he had wired them money,” said the DoJ in a statement.

The DoJ said between September 2021 and June 2023, Russell fraudulently obtained at least 97 credit or debit cards and at least 43 identification cards in the names of third parties, often from gym lockers in New York and New Jersey. The DoJ said Russell obtained these devices with the intent to use them to complete unauthorized transactions.

Russell was formerly a registered broker with FINRA — Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Deutsche Bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing in this case involving Russell.

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