Canadian sentenced to one year in prison in the US for a series of crypto thefts worth $720 000

The latest thefts were committed while he was out on bail for another crime

Canadian who stole $48 million in cryptocurrency convicted again

11.09.2025 - 12:00

269

2 min

Key points:

A Canadian who stole $48 million in cryptocurrency has received a new sentence in the US.
While on bail, he organized another fraudulent scheme involving 200 victims.
Prosecutors call him a “serial online fraudster” who used SIM card swapping and phishing to steal cryptocurrency.

A Canadian resident has been sentenced to a year in prison in the United States after pleading guilty to a series of cryptocurrency thefts in 2022. The thefts affected about 200 people and caused 1 million Canadian dollars ($720 500) in damages. The court ordered him to pay $320 000 in compensation and an $83 000 fine.

The latest thefts were committed while he was on bail for another crime he committed as a teenager: he stole $48 million in a single day. This is one of the largest thefts in Canadian history.

How the fraudster operated

The prosecution claims that after being charged in the first case, he and his accomplices continued to defraud users. They manipulated X (formerly Twitter) employees into giving them access to the accounts of well-known companies. They then organized fake crypto airdrops, luring cryptocurrency from victims through phishing sites.

US prosecutors called him a “serial online fraudster” who decided to “immerse himself in the world of cybercrime.” His defense attorneys described him as “largely raised by the internet” — it was a way to escape reality during his troubled childhood in Ontario.

The defense argued that the young man was “a psychologically vulnerable teenager desperate to be seen, accepted and valued.”

CBC Hamilton is not naming the defendant because he was convicted as a minor for theft in 2020 and his identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He was 17 at the time of the first offense. He used a SIM swap scam to access the accounts of American tech entrepreneur Josh Jones.

Author: