HashFlare, a cryptocurrency mining platform that defrauded over $550 million, has pleaded guilty to telecom fraud charges

Odaily Daily News: As part of an agreement with US authorities, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin, co founders of HashFlare, a cryptocurrency mining service platform, have agreed to plead guilty to charges of conspiring to commit telecom fraud. These two Estonians are responsible for operating HashFlare, which defrauded users of over $550 million between 2015 and 2019 and raised $25 million from investors in 2017, claiming to establish a digital bank called Polybius, but the company was never established. Reed Smith partner and defense lawyer Mark Bini stated in an interview that the two defendants "agreed to waive the government's frozen asset rights in 2022" and provided assistance "to ensure that no economic harm is caused to anyone". According to lawyers, Potapenko, Turogin, and HashFlare returned $350 million in cryptocurrency to users between 2015 and 2022. （Cointelegraph）