LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Former Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary, Jack Montoucet, was sentenced on June 30 to 27 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by soliciting and accepting kickbacks in return for awarding a state contract.
During his trial on March 31, 2026, Montoucet pled guilty.
According to court documents, while Montoucet was secretary of LDWF he steered a contract to a company called DLG1 LLC in exchange for a third of the profit. The other two-thirds was to be divided between Montoucet’s co-conspirators, Dusty Guidry and Leonard Franques.
On January 27, 2021, Montoucet caused LDWF to award a no-bid contract to DGL1 to provide online hunter and boater education courses.
After the Louisiana Division of Administration, Office of Special Procurement raised concerns about the no-bid contract, the LDWF opened a public bid for a…
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