Journalist
Hassan Shittu
Journalist
Hassan Shittu
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A man convicted in a $22 million crypto fraud scheme saw his prison sentence sharply increased after failing to repay the money he owed his victim.
Nicholas Truglia, 27, who was initially sentenced to 18 months, received a new 12-year sentence on Thursday in a New York federal court. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered the increase after ruling that Truglia had willfully ignored his obligation to pay back nearly $20.4 million in restitution.
“You paid not a cent, not one cent,” Judge Hellerstein told Truglia during the hearing. The judge further ordered an added 3-month supervised release while noting Truglia’s lifestyle. “You didn’t have a job, but you lived in splendor,” Judge Hellerstein said.
Judge Slams Crypto Fraudster’s Lavish Lifestyle in SIM-Swap Sentencing
According to the report from Bloomberg, Truglia’s legal team argued the new sentence was unlawful. His attorney, Mark Gombiner, said in court that the punishment was “an extraordinary abuse of discretion” and confirmed plans to appeal.
Arrested in the California Bay Area in 2018, Truglia pleaded guilty in 2021 to participating in a scheme that involved hijacking a victim’s phone number through SIM swapping and draining their crypto accounts.
The hackers exploited a telecom employee to gain control of Michael Terpin’s phone number. Terpin, a blockchain investor and CEO of Transform Group, suffered a loss of $24 million due to this scheme.
Notably, Truglia was tasked with converting stolen cryptocurrency into Bitcoin. In 2019, Terpin filed a civil lawsuit for $75 million against the scammer and was awarded the full amount in damages by the court.
That same year, he also took legal action against AT&T, his wireless carrier at the time, filing a $224 million lawsuit for their negligence. Their failure to secure his cell phone allowed the hackers to compromise it, resulting in his loss.
At the time of his initial sentencing, prosecutors revealed that Truglia held more than $50 million in assets, including cryptocurrency, luxury goods, and fine art. Gombiner told the court that his client had turned over all assets he could access, including funds from a Wells Fargo account.
Truglia claimed that much of his wealth remained locked in an inaccessible Bitcoin wallet. He told the judge he would repay the victim if he could access the funds.
Terpin, who joined the hearing by phone, rejected that explanation, calling it “a giant smoke screen.”
U.S. Ramps Up Enforcement as Crypto Crimes Lead to Decades-Long Sentences
In the U.S., crypto crimes continue to result in severe penalties. On May 23, Trung Nguyen, a Massachusetts man who ran an unlicensed cash-to-Bitcoin business, was sentenced to six years in federal prison.
His company, disguised as a vending machine operator, processed over $1 million in illicit cash, including funds for a known methamphetamine dealer.
Nguyen, who used the alias “DCS420,” was convicted in 2024 for money laundering and failing to register with FinCEN.
Just two weeks earlier, on May 9, Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa received a 30-year sentence for sending crypto to ISIS operatives. U.S. prosecutors revealed that between 2019 and 2022, Chhipa funneled more than $185,000 to the terrorist group, funding fighters and prison escapes.
His use of burner phones and fake identities ultimately failed to hide his tracks. He was caught attempting to flee and intercepted on an Interpol notice.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is pushing for a 20-year sentence for Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius. Prosecutors say Mashinsky’s fraudulent practices cost investors $550 million, describing his actions as deliberate and self-serving.
He pled guilty in late 2024 after Celsius collapsed in mid-2022, freezing $4.7 billion in customer funds.
These back-to-back cases underscore mounting pressure from courts and regulators to address crypto misuse, whether through scams, market abuse, money laundering, or terrorism financing.
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