Loading...
According to the website of the US Department of Justice, Dena J. King, the federal prosecutor for the Western District of North Carolina, announced that Indian citizen Chirag Tomar was sentenced to prison today for using a counterfeit or "disguised" website to forge the cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase and steal over $20 million from hundreds of victims. US District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced 31 year old Chirag Tomar to 60 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. According to court documents submitted and today's sentencing hearing, Tomar and his accomplices began a disguised fraud scheme as early as June 2021, stealing millions of cryptocurrencies from hundreds of victims worldwide and in the United States (including the Western District of North Carolina). Tomar and his accomplices carried out fraud through Coinbase, a platform that allows customers to buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies. Tomar used the victim's stolen login credentials to access the victim's account and transferred the cryptocurrency held by the victim to a wallet controlled by Tomar. After receiving stolen cryptocurrency, Tomar will convert it into other forms of cryptocurrency and transfer funds between multiple wallets controlled by Tomar. In the end, the cryptocurrency was converted into cash and then distributed to Tomar and his accomplices. On December 20, 2023, Tomar was arrested at Atlanta Airport upon entering the United States. On May 20, 2024, Tomar pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit telecommunications fraud. Tomar is currently under federal detention and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons once a federal facility is designated.