Arizona man Reginald Fowler prepared to plead guilty in Crypto Capital case

Arizona resident Reginald Fowler is prepared to plead guilty to providing shadow banking services through the Panamanian processor Crypto Capital, Law360 reports. The company is a key figure in the Bitfinex case against the state of New York.

In late 2019, Fowler sought to plead guilty to a number of counts. But at the January hearing he refused to do so because of a condition under which authorities could seize $371 million from him. The investigation valued the defendant’s proceeds from fraud and illicit transfers at that amount.

The defence says Fowler is prepared to plead guilty. The terms of any deal with prosecutors should not include the $371 million forfeiture.

The court noted that the defendant may challenge asset forfeiture in a separate proceeding. If that deal also falls through, the next hearing in the case will be held in January 2021.

Along with Fowler, charges were brought against Israeli national Ravid Yosef and her brother Oz Yosef. The latter was the founder of Crypto Capital, through which illicit operations were carried out.

Crypto Capital was linked to the bitcoin exchange Bitfinex. The trading platform transferred $850 million to the company for safekeeping. As a result, it lost access to them, and the New York attorney general’s office accused the platform of attempting to conceal the loss and to replenish the shortfall with funds from an affiliate issuer of the stablecoin Tether.

Earlier, the state’s Supreme Court ordered the bitcoin exchange and Tether to hand over documents on mutual financial transactions.

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