The former CEO of SafeMoon may face up to 45 years in prison due to fraud charges.

According to Gate News bot, The Block reports that a U.S. federal jury found former SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony guilty of three counts of fraud, stemming from a cryptocurrency scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of millions of dollars.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York stated in a press release on Wednesday that Karony could face up to 45 years in prison for charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

In 2021, SafeMoon LLC issued a digital asset named SafeMoon, which at one point had a market value exceeding 8 billion dollars. Each transaction of this crypto asset incurs a 10% tax.

Despite the project’s statement to investors that half of the 10% fee would be “locked” in a liquidity pool, U.S. prosecutors have stated that Karony and his accomplices fraudulently diverted millions of dollars in liquidity from that pool for personal gain.

Lawyer Joseph Nocella, Jr. stated: “The trial proves that SafeMoon crypto assets are fundamentally unsafe, and for investors, it’s just a castle in the air; they were deliberately misled by Karony. Karony attempted to get rich quickly by stealing and misappropriating millions of dollars.”

Although Karony claims that the company’s executives do not hold or trade SafeMoon, prosecutors stated that they repeatedly bought and sold the Crypto Assets, profiting illegally by millions of dollars, and obscured these profits through means such as private non-custodial wallets on CEX, trading routes, and pseudonymous accounts.

It is claimed that Karony alone has profited over 9 million dollars through Crypto Assets and used these assets to purchase real estate worth several million dollars and multiple luxury cars, including two Audi R8 sports cars, a Tesla, and so on.

Accomplice Thomas Smith has previously pleaded guilty and is currently awaiting sentencing, while another accomplice, Kyle Nagy, is still at large.

Meanwhile, Karony has repeatedly claimed on X that he is innocent and has not committed fraud. He denied the fraud charges against him during his initial appearance in New York, insisting that “no fraud was committed,” and blamed the misappropriation of funds on the platform’s founder, Kyle Nagy.