imprisonment

The Hungarian Parliament passed Bill XXXVIII of 2026, which abolishes legal provisions related to cryptocurrency asset conversion services, including the verification requirements that European exchanges must pass to operate legally in Hungary. The bill was voted on and passed on July 31 and came into effect on August 7.This abolition simultaneously cancels two charges related to cryptocurrency assets: unauthorized trading of high-value cryptocurrency assets can result in a maximum of 5 years in prison, and violating verification obligations when providing cryptocurrency exchange services can result in a maximum of 8 years in prison. The relevant provisions were criticized for overlapping with the EU MiCA framework.

On the morning of August 20, 2026, the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province publicly announced the first-instance verdict in the case of Evergrande Group Co., Ltd., Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., and defendant Xu Jiayin. The court imposed multiple penalties on Evergrande Group, sentencing it to a fine of 8.82 billion yuan; it fined Evergrande Real Estate 7 billion yuan; and sentenced Xu Jiayin to life imprisonment for multiple crimes, depriving him of political rights for life, and confiscating all personal property; it also ordered the continued recovery of illegal gains, with any shortfall to be compensated.The court found that Xu Jiayin is the actual controller of Evergrande Group. Between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande Group, Evergrande Real Estate, and Xu Jiayin inflated assets and concealed liabilities through financial fraud and other means, committing crimes such as illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, fraudulent issuance of securities, and illegally disclosing important information; they also obtained control of financial institutions through bribery, illegally siphoning off credit and insurance funds. Xu Jiayin further exploited his position to organize financial fraud, misappropriating company property under the guise of dividends. The court deemed these actions to severely disrupt the market economic order, with particularly huge amounts involved and particularly heinous circumstances, and imposed severe penalties according to the law.On the same day, the two levels of courts in Shenzhen also ruled on the cases of individuals involved in Evergrande related to illegally absorbing public deposits and fundraising fraud, sentencing 56 individuals including Zhen Litiao, Ke Peng, Xu Tenghe, and Xu Zhijian to prison terms ranging from eighteen years to one year and ten months, along with fines or confiscation of property.

According to Decrypt, the Myanmar parliament passed a law on Tuesday that allows for the death penalty for those who coerce others into engaging in online fraud through violence or illegal detention.According to the draft bill released in May this year, if such abusive behavior results in the death of the victim, the death penalty should be imposed. The new law also stipulates that individuals operating online fraud parks or implementing "digital currency fraud (cryptocurrency fraud)" can be sentenced to life imprisonment; while criminals who commit violent coercion, illegal detention, and other acts can be sentenced to 10 years to life imprisonment.

According to Decrypt, the Cambodian National Assembly has unanimously passed a new bill to combat online fraud, targeting operators of large-scale scam operations that utilize cryptocurrency, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The bill is still pending review by the Senate and final approval from King Norodom Sihamoni.Under the bill, the core leaders of scam groups will face 15 to 30 years in prison, and if death results, they could be sentenced to life imprisonment; organizers can be sentenced to up to 20 years and fined heavily, while participants may face 2 to 5 years in prison and fines of up to $125,000.Analysis indicates that cryptocurrency scams such as "pig butchering" have rapidly spread in Southeast Asia in recent years, relying on cryptocurrency for cross-border transfers and money laundering, with annual amounts involved reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. Such crackdowns may lead to scams "shifting rather than disappearing," and the key lies in whether there is simultaneous action against corruption protection, money laundering networks, and cross-border capital flow systems.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California has announced that a suspect involved in a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering scheme has been sentenced. Jingliang Su, a 45-year-old Chinese national, was sentenced to nearly 4 years in federal prison on Tuesday local time for his role in laundering nearly $37 million in illegal digital assets, and he was ordered to pay over $26 million in restitution.Prosecutors noted that Jingliang Su was a member of a transnational criminal network that contacted U.S. victims through text messages, phone calls, and online dating platforms, luring them into participating in fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. Victims were directed to counterfeit websites of legitimate trading platforms and were falsely informed that their investments were generating profits, while the actual funds were being transferred and embezzled.Investigations revealed that the relevant funds were laundered through U.S. shell companies, digital asset wallets, and international bank accounts, with approximately $36.9 million ultimately being wired to an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas and converted to USDT. Subsequently, accomplices located in Cambodia transferred the USDT to the masterminds behind the regional scam centers.The U.S. government has confirmed at least 174 American victims. Jingliang Su had previously pleaded guilty in June to a charge of "conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business." A total of 8 individuals involved in the case have pleaded guilty, including another suspect who has been sentenced to over 4 years in prison.

A traffic police officer in Ufa, Russia, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for stealing approximately 20 million rubles (equivalent to several hundred thousand dollars) in Bitcoin. The case dates back to 2022, when the officer illegally obtained access to the mobile phones of two detainees while handling a case, transferring BTC through a messaging app and a cryptocurrency wallet, accompanied by violent evidence collection. The court sentenced him to 7 years in a regular security prison, ordered him to compensate the victims approximately 20 million rubles, and stripped him of his police rank.

The People's Court of Lechang City, Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, has concluded a foreign-related fraud case. The criminals, after gaining the victim's trust, guided the victim to invest in virtual currency on a fraudulent platform, thereby defrauding the victim of their property. The Lechang Court sentenced the criminals to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from eight months to six months and imposed fines.The judge reminds that the so-called "only defrauding foreigners" is by no means a legal exemption. Overseas is not a lawless land, and one should not easily believe the fallacy that "defrauding foreigners is not a crime."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal hearing is scheduled for November 4, nearly two years after the former FTX CEO was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Kong media Dongwang, Hong Kong law enforcement has arrested two local men on suspicion of installing mining machines for virtual currency mining in a residential care home for the disabled in Cheung Sha Wan, resulting in additional costs of up to 9,000 HKD for the home. The two have been temporarily charged with electricity theft, and the case is still under investigation.It is reported that electricity theft in Hong Kong is considered a serious crime. According to the Theft Ordinance, anyone who dishonestly uses electricity without proper authorization, or dishonestly causes electricity waste or transmits electricity elsewhere, is committing an offense, which can result in a maximum imprisonment of 5 years.

ChainCatcher news, according to Deshgujarat, an Indian anti-corruption court has sentenced 14 people to life imprisonment, including 11 police officials and a former Indian People's Party (BJP) legislator, for the crime of kidnapping an Indian businessman and extorting cryptocurrency. The judge found the gang guilty of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention, and assault.It is reported that Indian businessman Shailesh Bhatt recovered part of his investment in the form of Bitcoin after the collapse of the BitConnect company he invested in. However, upon learning that he had recovered part of his investment, the aforementioned officials plotted a kidnapping scheme to seize the cryptocurrency. Ultimately, Shailesh Bhatt was released only after agreeing to transfer part of his Bitcoin and $3.6 million in cash.

ChainCatcher news, according to a court announcement, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup has sentenced former CEO Daniel Schatt and CFO Joseph Podulka of the cryptocurrency lending institution Cred LLC to 52 months and 36 months of federal imprisonment, respectively, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.In addition to imprisonment, Judge Alsup also sentenced Schatt and Podulka to three years of supervised release and ordered them to pay a fine of $25,000. The defendants are set to begin their sentences on October 28, 2025. Judge Alsup has scheduled a restitution hearing for October 7, 2025.According to the plea agreement, Schatt and Podulka conspired to provide incomplete and misleading positive descriptions of Cred's business while failing to disclose significant negative information regarding the challenges and risks facing Cred's business, which would harm Cred's customers.On November 7, 2020, Cred filed for bankruptcy. In the Cred bankruptcy proceedings, customers and investors of Cred submitted over 6,000 claims totaling more than $140 million.According to the government's sentencing memorandum, based on the valuation of various cryptocurrencies as of August 2025, the total amount of these claims exceeds $1 billion.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official account of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, on August 27, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate ("Two Highs") released typical cases of punishing the concealment and hiding of criminal proceeds and the crimes of criminal proceeds, accurately identifying crimes committed by means such as virtual currency to conceal and hide criminal proceeds. The case of "An Certain et al. Concealing and Hiding Criminal Proceeds" was selected. In this case, the three defendants assisted criminals in transferring large amounts of funds on a digital currency trading platform and used funds transferred from others into bank card accounts to purchase virtual currency. The verified amount of money defrauded from victims totaled over 500,000 yuan, with serious circumstances, and all were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment and fined.

ChainCatcher news, according to Daily Hodl, California resident Abraham Park has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for participating in a Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) fraud scheme. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that Park submitted over 120 fraudulent SBA EIDL applications totaling $12 million between 2020 and 2022.Park is the owner and CEO of a California financial services company that helps clients obtain financing, loans, and repair credit scores. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Park advised clients to create fictitious corporate entities so that he could submit fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the SBA on their behalf. In return, his clients would pay Park a portion of the loans that were disbursed as kickbacks.Park successfully collected 73 fraudulent loans, stealing nearly $7 million from the disaster relief program.

ChainCatcher news, Rowland Marcus Andrade, the founder of AML Bitcoin and CEO of NAC Foundation, has been sentenced to 84 months (7 years) in prison by a U.S. federal court for involvement in telecommunications fraud and money laundering related to the cryptocurrency AML Bitcoin.The court found that Andrade deceived investors by falsely promoting the technology, business potential, and launch timeline of AML Bitcoin, raising approximately $10 million from 2014 to 2019, of which over $2 million was used for personal expenses such as purchasing real estate and luxury cars. A hearing regarding victim compensation and asset forfeiture will be held on September 16, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, two London residents have been sentenced to over ten years in prison for defrauding dozens of investors out of more than $2 million in a cryptocurrency scam that lasted for two years. According to a press release from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga were sentenced to over five years and six years in prison, respectively.Bedi and Mavanga cold-called consumers to promote fake high-return cryptocurrency investment opportunities, which were actually scams set up for their personal financial gain. FCA's Joint Executive Director Steve Smart stated that these criminals need to understand that crime comes at a cost, and they will seek to make the criminals pay for it.

ChainCatcher news, according to the report from the official account of the Danzhou People's Procuratorate, a certain criminal gang used "contract cryptocurrency trading" as a bait to attract investments in virtual currencies with promises of high returns, illegally absorbing public deposits totaling over 10 million yuan, a huge amount. The Danzhou People's Procuratorate has filed a public prosecution for the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits.After examination, the Danzhou People's Procuratorate determined that the actions of this criminal gang violated the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, constituting a joint crime of illegally absorbing public deposits, and they were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment and fined.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania disclosed that 45-year-old NFT trader Waylon Wilcox admitted to two counts of submitting false personal income tax returns. The trader sold 62 CryptoPunk NFTs in 2021, earning approximately $7.4 million in profit, and then sold 35 CryptoPunk NFTs in 2022, making a profit of $4.9 million.It is reported that Waylon Wilco submitted a false personal income tax return for the 2021 tax year in April 2022, underreporting approximately $8.5 million in income tax and about $2.1 million in taxes owed; in October 2023, Waylon Wilco submitted another false personal income tax return for the 2022 tax year, underreporting approximately $4.6 million in income tax and nearly $1.1 million in taxes owed.

ChainCatcher news, encrypted KOL Thomas John Sfraga, also known as "TJ Stone," was sentenced to 45 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in the Brooklyn Federal Court for wire fraud. As part of the sentence, he was ordered to forfeit $1,337,700, with the restitution amount to be determined later.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointlegraph, SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) has been placed in solitary confinement after accepting an interview with Tucker Carlson without permission.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, CluCoin founder Austin Michael Taylor has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for telecommunications fraud and must pay $1.14 million in restitution.Taylor issued the CLU token on the BNB Chain in 2021, subsequently launching Goobers NFT, the Web3 game Gridlock, and the metaverse platform Xenia. In early 2023, he admitted to using investor funds for online gambling and embezzlement. The CLU token once reached a market value of $17 million, but is now only worth $54,000. The Goobers NFT had a peak floor price of 55.25 ETH, but the price has since plummeted.