5 crypto criminals serving the longest prison sentences

Ross Ulbricht was born in 1984 in Austin, Texas, and founded the Silk Road in 2013, a notorious dark web marketplace that facilitated illegal activities such as drug trafficking through Bitcoin transactions. During the investigation, the FBI seized 144,336 Bitcoin from a shared digital wallet on his laptop, selling them through a series of auctions that generated approximately $48.2 million.

In 2015, Ulbricht was convicted of several crimes, including money laundering, computer hacking, and narcotics trafficking. He is currently serving a double life sentence (50 years) plus an additional 40 years, totaling 1080 months, without the possibility of parole.

Many crypto enthusiasts have advocated for his release, including former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who promised during the Bitcoin conference earlier this year that he would commute his sentence if elected again.

Sam-Bankman Fried launched the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2019, and it went bankrupt in 2022. Born in 1992 in California, he grew up in an academic family, with both of his parents professors at Stanford Law School.

The disgraced cryptocurrency executive was convicted of fraud in the spectacular collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024.

Roger Thomas Clark was a senior advisor to the Silk Road who played a significant role in facilitating its narcotics trafficking operations. Convicted in 2023, Clark was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the illicit activities surrounding the dark web marketplace.

Karl Sebastian Greenwood was the co-founder of OneCoin and mastermind of the largest Ponzi schemes in cryptocurrency history. In 2014, Greenwood solicited investments from hundreds of individuals for a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme, leading to significant financial losses for many. In 2023, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his actions.

Mark Scott was linked to the OneCoin fraud and played a crucial role in laundering the proceeds as a lawyer. He established a network of shell companies and funneled money into offshore accounts to conceal over $400 million in stolen funds. In 2024, Scott was convicted of money laundering and received a 10-year prison sentence for his involvement in the scheme.