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Estonian police, along with the FBI, are investigating the case, and US authorities want to extradite the pair – Estonians Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin.
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The two 37-year-olds allegedly asked people to invest in a cryptocurrency mining service called Hashflare and a fake virtual bank called Polybius.
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The pair face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, offenses that carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a statement from the US Justice Department said.
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The defendants have appeared in court in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and are being held pending extradition to the United States, the statement said.
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Detailing the alleged scheme, the DoJ says two victims were duped by offering them the chance to buy into Hashflare's cryptocurrency mining operations.
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Crypto mining uses computers to generate virtual coins for profit – a process that consumes significant amounts of computing power.
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Customers around the world are said to have bought over half a billion dollars worth of Hashflare contracts from 2015 to 2019. But the operation reportedly exaggerated its capabilities.
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The DOJ alleges that victims were also promised dividends if they invested in Polybius, a virtual bank Mr. Potapenko and Mr. Turogin said they had set up.
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The defendants are said to have raised $25 million in this way - but no bank was ever built.
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The DoJ says he used shell companies to launder criminal proceeds by purchasing at least 75 properties and luxury cars.
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