Ex-Rugby Player Sentenced For $900K Crypto Mining Ponzi Scheme

In short

Shane Donovan Moore, a former semi-pro rugby participant, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for defrauding over 40 buyers out of $900,000 by a pretend crypto mining scheme.
Moore promised 1% every day returns from mining tools that didn’t exist, utilizing investor cash to fund a lavish life-style and repay earlier victims in typical Ponzi trend.
Choose Tana Lin explicitly talked about the emotional and psychological harm Moore triggered to his victims.

A former semi-pro rugby participant who promised buyers every day returns from a crypto mining enterprise that by no means existed has been sentenced to 2 and a half years in federal jail.

Shane Donovan Moore operated Quantum Donovan LLC from January 2021 to October 2022, throughout which he defrauded over 40 buyers out of greater than $900,000, in response to the Division of Justice’s Thursday assertion.

Moore claimed the funds can be used to buy crypto mining rigs that may generate 1% every day returns.

However as an alternative of shopping for mining rigs, he funneled investor cash into his private accounts to fund a lavish life-style, akin to shopping for luxurious flats, designer baggage, and electronics, whereas utilizing some funds to pay earlier buyers and maintain the Ponzi rip-off operating.

“Moore used the novelty of cryptocurrency to commit an age-old fraud—a Ponzi scheme,” Performing U.S. Lawyer Teal Luthy Miller stated. “He left a path of broken relationships in his wake.”

The 37-year-old Seattle rugby participant focused fellow rugby gamers throughout Washington, Utah, Oregon, Connecticut, and New Jersey, exploiting private belief to recruit victims who misplaced greater than $387,000 in complete.

To take care of the phantasm, Moore used a number of the investor cash to buy crypto and repay small sums to early individuals, which helped recruit extra victims, in response to the assertion.

U.S. District Choose Tana Lin famous throughout sentencing that Moore “triggered emotional and psychological harm to the victims” past monetary hurt.

“These scams run on false hope and excessive returns,” Karan Pujara, founding father of the rip-off protection platform ScamBuzzer, beforehand advised Decrypt. “The one factor that adjustments is the face of the scammer… and the sufferer, who’s grasping sufficient to YOLO their life financial savings.”

Over $2.17 billion in crypto has already been stolen this yr, surpassing all of 2024, in response to blockchain evaluation agency Chainalysis’ 2025 Mid-12 months Crypto Crime Report.

Moore’s sentencing comes amid a broader crackdown on crypto funding fraud.

Simply final month, two executives behind OmegaPro have been charged with operating a $650 million world Ponzi disguised as a forex-crypto platform.

Like Moore, they flaunted luxurious life and promised big returns earlier than blocking withdrawals and vanishing in 2023.

The rugby participant will serve his 30-month sentence in federal jail. He was additionally ordered to pay restitution, although authorities didn’t specify the total reimbursement plan.