Gustavo Rodriguez, a former promoter of crypto firm IcomTech, received an eight-year prison sentence on October 31 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon ruled that Rodriguez had made “intentional false statements” during his testimony. Despite prosecutors’ claims that Rodriguez showed no remorse and committed perjury during the trial, Judge Rochon imposed a lesser sentence than the 160 months requested by the government.
The Southern District of New York has become a focal point for crypto-related crime prosecutions, handling high-profile cases involving former FTX executives, Celsius’s Alex Mashinsky, and Mango Markets exploiter Avraham Eisenberg.
IcomTech was marketed as a crypto mining and trading firm following its launch in mid-2018 by founder David Carmona, who enlisted Rodriguez to create a website for the company. The firm falsely promised investors guaranteed daily returns from its crypto trading and mining operations.
Prosecutors revealed that IcomTech did not engage in any trading or mining activities. Instead, it operated as a Ponzi scheme, using new investor funds to pay returns to earlier investors. Rodriguez contributed to the scam by advising on the pricing of “investment packages” and fabricating daily returns accessible to investors through the website and a portal he managed.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office disclosed that Brend and other promoters of the scheme spent large sums of investor money on personal expenses, including real estate and travel. They also organized extravagant events to attract more investors, promising luxury lifestyles and financial freedom.
As the scheme began to unravel, with investors unable to withdraw their profits and facing excuses, delays, and hidden fees, IcomTech introduced a token called “Icoms” in a bid to raise additional funds. The token, which was falsely claimed to be accepted for payments by various companies, was essentially worthless, leading to further losses for investors. IcomTech collapsed in 2019, ceasing all payments.
The court accused the operation of defrauding tens of thousands of individuals out of millions of dollars, exploiting working people’s savings.
