In a legal development, three individuals have received sentences for their involvement in a Ponzi scheme centered around AirBit Club, a crypto mining and trading company that deceived investors.

Attorney Scott Hughes, responsible for laundering around $18 million in fraudulent proceeds linked to AirBit Club, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Cecilia Millan, who held a senior-level position as a promoter within the company, received a five-year prison term, while Karina Chairez was sentenced to just under a year, as confirmed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams made a statement, underlining the critical role played by individuals like Hughes, Millan, and Chairez in enabling pyramid schemes like AirBit Club.

“Pyramid schemes like AirBit Club would not be possible without facilitators like Hughes, Millan, and Chairez,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

He also stressed that today's sentences are a clear message that anyone involved in facilitating cryptocurrency investment schemes, not just those at the top, will face severe consequences for their actions.

In a related development, co-founders Pablo Renato Rodriguez and Gutemberg Dos Santos received 12-year prison sentences.

Lavish Spending and False Promises of the AirBit Club Ponzi Scheme

The fraudulent scheme revolved around enticing victims to invest in AirBit Club by promising profits in exchange for purchasing club "memberships" and falsely claiming that AirBit Club generated returns through crypto mining and trading.

Investors were led to believe that they could earn passive daily returns on their membership investments.

However, investigations revealed that no bitcoin mining or trading activities took place on behalf of investors.

Instead, the ill-gotten funds were lavishly spent on luxury items such as cars, jewellery, opulent homes, and extravagant recruitment events, as stated by officials.