AirBit Club employees sentenced to prison terms

The Southern District of New York sentenced Scott Hughes, Cecilia Millán and Karina Chaires of the AirBit Club to prison terms.

Such pyramids would be impossible without such accomplices. Today’s sentences remind that any conspirator in cryptocurrency investment schemes — not just at the top of the pyramid — will face serious consequences for these crimes, said Damien Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Hughes’s attorney was sentenced to 18 months in prison. According to the indictment, he laundered about $18 million from the AirBit Club fraud.

Promoter Cecilia Millán and Karina Chaires received five years and one year in prison, respectively.

The AirBit Club pyramid was organized in 2015 by Pablo Renato Rodriguez and Gutemberg Dos Santos. They raised cash, promising daily returns from investments in cryptocurrency trading and mining. Promoters promoted the project worldwide through expensive presentations.

In member dashboards, balances appeared to be rising, but this was fictitious. Those attempting to withdraw funds were offered a 50% commission on the amount requested. Some investors said they encountered accounts being closed allegedly due to a ‘financial crisis caused by the coronavirus’.

The organizers and employees of AirBit Club laundered the proceeds through cryptocurrencies, trust accounts and fictitious companies, later using them for personal purposes. The total fraudulent proceeds from AirBit Club amounted to about $100 million. The court intends to confiscate these assets.

In late September 2023, Rodriguez was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He is also required to pay $65 million in restitution and forfeit about $1 million from the company accounts on whose books sat his Gulfstream Jet, 3822.98 BTC (over $100 million at the time of writing), $896,483 in cash, a residence in California, and various watches and jewelry.

As with the other conspirators, Dos Santos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and bank fraud. He is awaiting sentenced on October 4.

Recall, in 2019 AirBit Club became one of the largest pyramids in Russia. According to the Bank of Russia, about 60,000 people were involved, and the amount of investments exceeded 500 million rubles.