A so-called crypto influencer who pled guilty to a fraud charge in connection with a scheme to mine crypto by defrauding cloud computing providers has been sentenced to jail.
Last December, Charles Parks III, known as CP30, pled guilty to wire fraud for operating a “cryptojacking” scheme — illegally using third-party resources, such as electricity or computing power, to mine crypto — which used approximately US$3.5 million worth of stolen cloud services to produce almost US$1 million worth of crypto, including ether, litecoin and monero, in 2021.
According to court filings, Parks created numerous fictitious accounts with the cloud providers to “gain access to massive amounts of computing processing power and storage” that he did not pay for and deceived those companies about growing unpaid bills. The proceeds were allegedly laundered through various crypto exchanges before being converted into fiat currency and spent on luxury goods and services.
“Parks boasted about his profits so as to earn credibility as a crypto influencer,” U.S. authorities noted.
In federal court in Brooklyn, Parks was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to forfeit US$500,000 and a car purchased with proceeds from the scheme. Restitution will be determined at a future hearing.
“Parks branded himself as an innovator and a thought leader, but in the end he was merely a fraudster whose secret to getting rich quick was lying and stealing,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
He was originally charged with wire fraud and money laundering.