The founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds in New York, Stefan Qin, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He is likewise purchased to surrender about $55 million. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that he “engaged in a scheme to steal assets” from his hedge funds and defraud investors.
Crypto Hedge Fund Founder Gets 7.5 Years in Jail
Stefan Qin, the founder of 2 cryptocurrency hedge funds in New York, has actually been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed recently.
Qin, a 24-year-old Australian national, founded the Virgil Sigma Fund and the VQR Multistrategy Fund, which claimed to have over $100 million dollars in investments. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities scams on Feb. 4 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a suit versus him in December in 2015.
According to the DOJ, Qin was sentenced Wednesday to 90 months in prison.
The Department of Justice described that in between 2017 and 2020, Qin owned and managed the 2 cryptocurrency mutual fund. “Until recently, Virgil Sigma purported to have over $90 million under management from dozens of investors, including many in the United States,” the Department said. “Until recently, VQR had at least approximately $24 million under management from investors.”
The DOJ detailed:
Since 2017, Qin engaged in a scheme to steal assets from Virgil Sigma and defraud its investors. Rather than investing the fund’s properties in a cryptocurrency arbitrage trading method as marketed, Qin embezzled financier capital from Virgil Sigma and utilized the funds for functions besides the supposed arbitrage trading method.
Qin also attempted to steal assets from VQR as Bitcoin.com News previously reported. The DOJ described that Qin’s 2 cryptocurrency funds “have ceased operations and the liquidation and distribution of assets is being handled by a court-appointed receiver in the matter of S.E.C. v. Qin, 20 Civ. 10849,” including:
Qin, 24, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $54,793,532.
