US Gov to determine property forfeiture in case against Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow

Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the New York Southern District Court has issued an order concerning the criminal proceedings against Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow, widely known for his Bitcoin fraudulent schemes.

Shortly after the Court accepted the guilty plea of Haddow, the Judge has entered an order regarding forfeiture in this case.

The order says that, the indictment in this matter includes one or more forfeiture allegations. Pursuant to Rule 32.2(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, after a finding of guilt, the Court must determine whether property is subject to forfeiture under the applicable statute and enter a preliminary order of forfeiture if necessary. Accordingly, the Government is hereby directed to determine what property it will seek to have forfeited and confer promptly with defense counsel to ascertain whether the defense opposes the forfeiture sought. The Government must thereafter provide, no later than two weeks before the sentencing date a proposed preliminary order of forfeiture.

The Court’s order marks one of the few recent bits of information regarding the proceedings against Haddow in the United States. In a related lawsuit brought against Haddow by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Government was told to provide an update on the Haddow matter by June 11, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Berman announced the unsealing of a guilty plea, on May 8, 2019, by Renwick Haddow, a/k/a “Jonathan Black,” in which he admitted to his own involvement in the fraudulent scheme related to Bar Works, as well as to making material misrepresentations and misappropriating investment funds in another company created by him called Bitcoin Store Inc.

Haddow was originally charged in June 2017 and extradited from Morocco in April 2018. He pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is cooperating with the Government in this investigation.