The co-founder of a fraudulent ICO project that duped more than $25 million from investors, Sohrab Sharma, has received a sentence of eight years in prison for his role.
The project itself, dubbed Centra Tech, was previously backed by several celebrities, including the boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and the producer DJ Khaled.
Centra Tech Co-Founder Behind Bars for 8 Years
Founded in 2017, Centra Tech marketed itself as a debit card provider that supposedly allowed purchases with cryptocurrencies at any businesses accepting Visa and MasterCard.
The trio behind the project, namely Robert Farkas, Raymond Trapani, and Sohrab “Sam” Sharma, claimed that a Harvard-educated CEO with over 20 of experience will run the project and that the card had licenses to operate in 38 US states.
However, an investigation from the Department of Justice concluded that the three co-founders had fabricated the information. Consequently, the authorities charged the three men with deceiving investors into allocating over $25 million in the fraudulent ICO project.
Farkas and Trapani pled guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud initially, while Sharma joined them last year, as reported. Now, several months later, he has received his sentencing – eight years in prison, according to the DOJ’s statement.
US Attorney Ilan Graff said that Sharma has “led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products.”
He added that “in reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses …
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