Key Figure in $100 Million Cryptocurrency Mining Scam, Airbit Club, Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

According to the official website of the U.S. Department of Justice, Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced that Pablo Renato Rodriguez, co-founder of the

cryptocurrency

mining scam, AirBit Club, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Rodriguez was found to have conspired with Gutemberg Dos Santos, another co-founder, in orchestrating a large-scale global fraud scheme involving AirBit Club.

Earlier in March, it was reported that six top executives of the cryptocurrency mining scam, Airbit Club, had pleaded guilty. U.S. prosecutors stated that the scheme defrauded victims of $100 million in total

AirBit Club, co-founded by Gutemberg Dos Santos and Pablo Renato Rodriguez in 2015 with its headquarters in Panama, claimed to be involved in cryptocurrency mining. They purportedly used thousands of “automatic trading robots” to guarantee high-profit margins with low investment. The scheme operated by recruiting members globally in a pyramid-like structure, enticing victims to invest cash. Once victims became members, they could access the club's portal website to view their investment returns. However, the accumulated “profits” displayed on the website were fabricated, and there was no actual Bitcoin mining or trading taking place.

Pablo Renato Rodriguez and his associates organized lavish investment expos in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, engaging in multi-level marketing to lure more people into becoming members and investing. They amassed wealth through this fraudulent scheme, spending their ill-gotten gains on cars, jewelry, luxurious homes, and hosting even more extravagant expos to attract further investments. Airbit Club entered China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in 2017, claiming to have 40,000 members in China alone, spanning 10 provinces and cities. In just two years, it collected over 64 million New Taiwan Dollars in Taiwan.

The scheme was exposed in October 2020, leading to the arrest of five masterminds. Following the sentencing of Pablo Renato Rodriguez, three of his accomplices and Gutemberg Dos Santos will be sentenced on October 3rd and 4th, respectively.