LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five individuals from Kentucky, Indiana, and Colorado have been arrested on federal charges for their alleged role in scheming to fraudulently gain 1.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky formally indicted 31-year-old Kaelynn Greene and 32-year-old Camden Newton with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money launderings all in relation to COVID-9 financial assistance relief funds. The indictment also charges 3 associates, Betty Bailey, 39, Breanna Patterson, 32, and Jordan Green, 34, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
U.S. Attorney Kyle G. Bumgarner of the Western District of Kentucky, along with Colin McDonald, an Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division and Special Agent in Charge Kelly Moening of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration…
THE HASHFLARE “CLOUD MINING” PONZI SCHEME (GLOBAL/ESTONIA)
Date: February 13, 2025 (Guilty Pleas) Perpetrators: Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin
Case Description: This $577 million cryptocurrency fraud remains one of the largest digital asset scams in history, with major legal developments concluding in 2025. Potapenko and Turogin operated “Hashflare,” which they marketed as a massive cryptocurrency mining operation. Hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide purchased “mining contracts,” believing they were renting hash power to mine Bitcoin. In reality, the duo was running a sophisticated Ponzi scheme.
They created fake customer dashboards that showed “real-time” mining profits, but the money being paid out was simply the capital of newer investors. They laundered the proceeds through shell companies to purchase luxury real estate and a fleet of high-end vehicles. After a massive international investigation involving the FBI and Estonian authorities, the pair agreed to forfeit over $400 million in assets. This case underscores the “Cyber-enabled Fraud” warning issued by the FATF in early 2026: as technology evolves, the scale of fraud moves from local millions to global billions in the blink of an eye.
Link to Original: ACFE – High Profile Fraud of 2025