ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – The Minnesota governor signed an array of bills following the end of the legislative session.
The new laws include increased fraud protection, Capitol security measures, cannabis supply chain regulation, in addition to infrastructure funding and general fund bonding for land and development purchases.
Bills signed into law
Crime and safety:
SF 3432: This bill provides investment into security measures at the Minnesota State Capitol. It also creates a database of emergency contact information of elected officials and establishes a Security Services Task Force.
HF 3489: Following the passage of a law that makes child grooming a felony in Minnesota, the signing of HF 3489 provides funding for investigative staffing costs related to the student maltreatment program.
Education:
HF 3900: Voters will have the chance to support funding for Minnesota schools…
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