Builds on Governor Hochul’s Efforts to Lower Auto Insurance Costs by Tackling Fraud, Waste and Abuse That Drive Up Costs for New York Drivers
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that a joint investigative partnership by members of the New York State Police (NYSP) and the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) resulted in the arrests of 16 individuals as part of ongoing and joint auto insurance fraud investigations. The joint investigation uncovered nearly $500,000 in attempted fraudulent claims across more than a dozen cases in New York City and Suffolk, Onondaga, Monroe, and Erie counties. The arrests follow major reforms enacted earlier this year by Governor Hochul as part of her…
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