Reggie Fowler, a former owner of the NFL team Minnesota Vikings, has been sentenced to six years of imprisonment by a New York judge for his participation in a crypto fraud scheme. This scheme involved over $700 million in unregulated transactions that were carried out over a period of 10 months in 2018.
The 63-year-old co-owner of the Vikings was convicted of bank fraud and money laundering. The US Attorney’s Office in New York issued a statement on June 5, revealing that Fowler was sentenced to a total of 75 months.
US Attorney Damian Williams stated that Fowler’s sentence was due to him processing hundreds of millions of dollars in unregulated transactions for cryptocurrency exchanges while acting as an illegal banking entity, evading federal regulations.
Fowler’s conviction ends a lengthy case that began with his arrest in 2019 for his alleged involvement in shadow banking activities. Shadow banking refers to non-banks that engage in bank-like operations that are often of an illegal nature.
The shadow banking company involved in this case was Crypto Capital Corp, which was established with the aim of facilitating transactions for cryptocurrency startups that operated outside of the traditional banking system either voluntarily or out of necessity.
Initially, Fowler pleaded not guilty to all charges in 2020. However, in April 2022, he changed his plea to guilty. In his recent statement, Williams emphasized that a series of falsehoods allowed Fowler to trick and mislead multiple banks.
According to Williams, Fowler successfully carried out his criminal activities by founding Global Trading Solutions (GTS) in February 2018. GTS collaborated with Crypto Capital and various other cryptocurrency firms based in Israel.
Under this agreement, Fowler, GTS, and the crypto firms used deceptive tactics to circumvent licensing requirements. They deceived banks by providing false information to open accounts used to process cryptocurrency transactions.
Williams said, “At no time did Fowler, GTS, or any of the crypto companies ever obtain a license as a money transmitter in the United States, as required by federal law.”
Fowler took advantage of this situation by opening several undisclosed accounts, effectively facilitating crypto transactions without the banks’ knowledge. In addition, he concealed GTS’ affiliation with the crypto firms, further obscuring the true nature of the operations.
In addition to the prison sentence imposed on Fowler, he was ordered to forfeit an incredible $740 million.
-Selected image from XFL Newsroom
