<\/p>\n
Reginald Fowler, a former NFL team owner, has been sentenced to six years of prison for operating as a \u201cshadow bank\u201d to the crypto sector, which involved over $700 million in unregulated transactions over a 10 month timespan in 2018.<\/p>\n
The 63-year-old, who was a co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings, was sentenced to a total of 75 months on bank fraud and money laundering charges, according to a statement from the United States Attorney\u2019s Office in New York on June 5.<\/p>\n
\nFormer co-owner of Minnesota Vikings sentenced to 75 months in prison for providing shadow banking services to cryptocurrency exchangeshttps:\/\/t.co\/Nc2PVhEajw<\/p>\n
\u2014 US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) June 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It marks the end of a five-year long case that began when he was arrested in 2019 for alleged shadow banking. Shadow banking is a term used to describe (often illegal) bank-like activities that are carried out by non-bank entities. <\/p>\n
Fowler initially pleaded not guilty to all charges in 2020, but changed his plea to guilty in April 2022. <\/p>\n
In his latest statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said that a string of lies enabled Fowler to mislead and deceive several banks:<\/p>\n
\u201cReginald Fowler evaded federal law by processing hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges as a shadow bank. He did so by lying to legitimate U.S. financial institutions, which exposed the U.S. financial system to serious risk.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Williams then said Fowler \u201cvictimized\u201d the Alliance of American Football (AAF) \u2014 a former professional football league \u2014 by lying about his net worth in order to own a \u201csubstantial\u201d stake in the league. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet it be clear: this Office is committed to prosecuting people who lie to banks and skirt the law as a means to conduct their business,\u201d the U.S. Attorney stressed. <\/p>\n
According to Williams, Fowler managed to pull this off by establishing Global Trading Solutions (GTS) around February 2018, which worked with Crypto Capital and other crypto firms operating out of Israel.<\/p>\n
There, Fowler, GTS and the crypto firms sidestepped a license by lying to banks in order to open accounts that were used to process crypto transactions. <\/p>\n
\nOK -now at crypto Fowler sentencing. It was set for 10: FOwler just came in at 10:19 am. Inner City Press is covering the case https:\/\/t.co\/S97h82I3FP and will live tweet, thread below pic.twitter.com\/HapbKHoHaz<\/a><\/p>\n