Crypto Scammer from Sweden Received a 15-Year Sentence

A crypto scammer from Sweden defrauded Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson with more than 3,500 victims out of more than $16 million worth of bitcoin and other payment platforms. A Swedish crypto scammer received a 15-year prison sentence for securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges. Karlsson was also ordered to forfeit a Thai resort with the stolen funds and $16,263,820 in restitution.

Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson operated an investment fraud scheme from 2011 until his arrest in Thailand in June 2019. The case against a Swedish crypto scammer was an international effort between the various agencies.

A federal grand jury indicted Karlsson and his company, Eastern Metal Securities (EMS), on July 25, 2019. Karlsson pleaded guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud, as well as money laundering charges. His company Eastern Metal Securities ceased to exist.

He promised investors astronomical returns on their investments paid in bitcoin and other online payments tied to the price of gold. Instead, Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson kept the money and used it to fund a string of expensive properties and a racehorse. He maintained the ruse, in part, by offering updates as well as account statements to victims. He explained delayed payouts by falsely claiming to be working with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). His fraud targeted financially insecure investors. The U.S. is seeking restitution on behalf of the people who lose their funds.

 

A Crypto scammer and authorities

Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson and EMS used the website www.easternmetalsecurities.com for several years to convince victims to send funds through a crypto exchange. During the same period, Swedish crypto scammer and his company used deceptive “devices and contrivances” to sell securities.

This person used the website to invite potential investors to purchase shares of the plan for less than $100 per share. Karlsson promised them a payout of 1.15 kilograms of gold per share. If something went wrong, he guaranteed them 97% of the amount they invested. According to Karlsson, he had no way to pay off investors.

He also used a second website www.hci25.com to make numerous false communications to potential inventors. Interestingly, he brought investors in HCI25 together with the investors of the “Pre Funded Reversed Pension Plan”. He tried to delay the moment investors would realize there would be no payout.