OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – One of the defendants in a lottery fraud case had her charges dismissed Wednesday morning due to insufficient evidence, according to the Douglas County Attorney’s Office.
Shanna Kerr, 46, was charged with criminal conspiracy and attempted theft by deception. Those charges are now dismissed.
Her husband, Kerwinn Kerr, 46, is still charged with conspiracy to commit theft by deception, attempted theft by deception, criminal impersonation, and attempted possession of a gun during the commission of a felony.
Kerr and his wife, Shanna, 44, were taken into custody in July in the area of 129th Street and West Maple Road in Omaha. The arrests were made during a sting operation conducted by the Douglas County…
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