A Miami man who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection to a cryptocurrency and stock investment scheme was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Authorities said they began looking into Ryan Crawford after NBC6 Investigators interviewed his victims over a year ago, including Alberto Rivera.
“I'm delighted,” Rivera told NBC6 Wednesday.
He spoke during the sentencing while others sent impact statements.
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“There are several people that have been impacted drastically. One of the victims fell ill, was hospitalized for quite some time, and lost everything,” Rivera said. “He was living in his car.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Brody stole nearly a million dollars from victims, who thought they were investing in the stock market and in his cryptocurrency the Cheetah Coin.
NBC6 Investigators first broke the story early last year when we asked cybersecurity experts at Enterprise Risk Management to help us track the digital coin.
Investigations
The NBC 6 Investigators get results
“Major Jorge Pereira saw the story forwarded to the unit and asked that we start investigating it,” said Miami-Dade Police Sgt. Bridget Doyle. “We immediately reached out to the primary victim who had reached out to you, Alberto Rivera.”
The Miami-Dade Police Department’s Cyber Crimes Bureau then reached out to state and federal agencies like the FBI and Secret Service. In March, Crawford was arrested in Colorado.
“The Miami crypto environment is growing. So this was, I think, a landmark case for the area to show that these cases can be pursued, they can be prosecuted, and it's not a victimless crime,” Doyle said.
NBC6 spoke with Crawford’s attorney, Rod Vereen, outside the federal courthouse Wednesday.
“He was very remorseful,” Vereen said.
He told the judge his client comes from a wealthy family and didn’t need to take money from people but has a gambling problem.
“He suffers from the influence of affluence. You know, when you're a trust fund kid, you know, you grow up, you know, with visors on,” Vereen said.
Though cameras weren’t allowed into the courthouse, after hearing victims’ impact statements, Crawford said, “I’m really sorry. I made a mistake. I didn’t mean to cause harm to all these people.”
Fernanda Grossi, who has a child with Crawford, was also present.
“I want to see a true, a change in his life, for him, for his betterment, and for his children's betterment,” Grossi told NBC6.
The U.S. Attorney's Office made it clear that it’s not that Crawford wasn’t successful at trading, it’s that he lied about being a licensed stockbroker, conned people into giving him money that he misappropriated immediately, renting luxury cars and gambling. Then, he created fake trading accounts and documents to make his victims believe he was making money.
The U.S. The Attorney's Office says it notified 74 potential victims to try to figure out restitution.
Although only 12 have responded, the sum already surpasses $874,000.
To give everyone time to submit financial statements, the judge set the restitution hearing for January. According to his lawyer, Crawford has a trust fund his family could tap into for restitution.
