Elderly American Ordered to Pay Nearly $14 Million for Crypto Pyramid Scheme

A Las Vegas court has sentenced 86-year-old former attorney David Keagle from California to a five-year suspended sentence for orchestrating a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme.

The defendant will pay approximately $13.95 million in restitution. In May, he pleaded guilty to a single charge.

Keagle is currently in hospice care at a Las Vegas nursing home due to health issues. The facility will monitor his stay under supervision. Should he leave, the former lawyer will be fitted with a monitoring device.

According to court documents, Keagle and two accomplices lured victims into a Ponzi scheme from December 2017 to June 2022. The fraudsters promised high, risk-free returns through the use of a trading bot.

The scammers assured users of net profits ranging from 20% to 100% on investments within 30 days.

To lend credibility, Keagle used letterheads from his law firm in correspondence with investors. It is estimated that he managed to attract at least $15 million.

Both his accomplices, David Saffron and Vincent Mazzotta, have refused to plead guilty and await a decision from the Federal Court in Los Angeles.

In October, in New York, IcomTech crypto pyramid organizer David Carmona was sentenced to 10 years in prison.