Former Deutsche Bank associate charged in crypto investment scheme

An investment banker who formerly worked for a firm believed to be Deutsche Bank has been charged with crypto fraud, according to U.S. authorities on April 11.

A statement from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York said that Rashawn Russell was arrested on April 10. He will be arraigned and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if he is proven guilty; he is currently presumed innocent.

The text of an April 6 legal filing alleges that Russell defrauded investors by promising that he would use their funds to make profitable cryptocurrency investments.

Russell promised “large, and sometimes guaranteed” returns on said crypto investments. He claimed at times to have created a cryptocurrency trading strategy concerning altcoins capable of producing more than 100% returns over three months.

Russell has also been charged with wire fraud. He allegedly sent investors documents that he had fabricated or tampered with to misrepresent the state of investments.

Official documents indicate that Russell solicited investments from former associates including friends, college classmates, and colleagues at a financial institution.

Though official documents mention only that Russell worked as an investment banker at an unnamed financial institution, reports from Bloomberg suggest that he worked as an investment banker at the German multinational firm Deutsche Bank.

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