Founder of ‘My Big Coin’ denied new trial by appellate court

The fraud conviction of Randall Crater, the founder of cryptocurrency project My Big Coin, has been upheld by an appellate court. Crater, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison, was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud, three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. In a recent filing, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed Crater’s conviction, stating that he was not entitled to a new trial. Crater’s legal team had argued that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated, but the judges disagreed. They also noted that an investigation by CipherTrace, a blockchain intelligence firm, revealed that My Big Coin was not a legitimate cryptocurrency. Crater had falsely marketed the firm as a crypto payment service, earning billions of dollars from victims. He was convicted in January 2023 and sentenced to 100 months in prison, with an order to pay restitution to the victims. The case is part of a larger effort by US authorities to crack down on crypto-related crime.