The main perpetrator of the US encryption eyewash has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, with an involved amount of up to 40 million US dollars.

On June 28, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that 57-year-old Pennsylvania man Dwayne Golden was sentenced to 97 months (approximately 8 years) in prison for participating in a crypto assets eyeflush that defrauded investors of $40 million. Golden, along with accomplices Gregory Aggesen and Marquis Demacking Egerton, operated fake crypto companies EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin from April to August 2017, falsely claiming to provide investors with fixed returns on digital assets through overseas operations.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella stated: "Golden and his accomplices exploited investors' interest in emerging technologies to carry out an old eyewash scheme, profiting immensely in the process. These companies did not provide legitimate services and never conducted any real crypto assets transactions as claimed." According to the announcement, after these companies went bankrupt, Golden and others also obstructed the investigation by destroying evidence and providing false information to the Federal Trade Commission.

In addition to imprisonment, Golden must also pay approximately $2.46 million in illegal gains. All four defendants have pleaded guilty, with William White sentenced to 30 months (2.5 years) in prison, while Aggesen and Egerton are still awaiting sentencing as of June 27.

In March 2022, Golden and others were first charged with financial crimes such as fraud and money laundering for operating the aforementioned company.