Indian National Sentenced to Five Years for $20 Million Coinbase Fraud

Indian citizen Chirag Tomar has been sentenced to five years in prison for orchestrating a $20 million cryptocurrency fraud involving a fake website of the bitcoin exchange Coinbase.

Court documents reveal that from at least June 2021 to December 2023, Tomar and his accomplices stole cryptocurrency from hundreds of victims through a counterfeit version of Coinbase Pro.

The proceeds from the fraud funded a lavish lifestyle. The convicted individual purchased Rolex and Audemars Piguet watches, Lamborghini and Porsche cars, and traveled to London, Dubai, and Thailand.

In December 2023, Tomar flew to the United States to visit family on a tourist visa but was arrested at Atlanta airport. In April 2024, he pleaded guilty to charges of creating a fake Coinbase site and stealing $9.5 million.

In October, U.S. prosecutors sought a five-year sentence for hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, who breached the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

Earlier, the SEC accused U.S.-based Vietnamese citizen Vai Pham of fraud for participating in market manipulation schemes involving the meme tokens Saitama Inu and Robo Inu.