A federal jury in the Northern District of California on Wednesday convicted cryptocurrency entrepreneur Rowland Marcus Andrade of wire fraud and money laundering connected to the sale of a token called AML Bitcoin.
The charges stemmed from an initial coin offering Andrade conducted for AML Bitcoin in 2017 and 2018. Early court filings covered by CoinDesk alleged Andrade, a Texas resident, falsely told investors that AML Bitcoin tokens would ultimately be converted into actual AML Bitcoin tokens — a cryptocurrency that never launched and was named to resemble the popular Bitcoin token.
The conviction marks the conclusion of one of the first and longest-running crypto “pump-and-dump” cases to involve U.S. federal prosecutors.
The Department of Justice named famed D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff a co-conspirator and pleaded guilty in 2020, paying more than $50,000 in disgorgement and interest. Abramoff was primarily known for his…
