Brooklyn man sentenced to up to 12 years for $16M Coinbase crypto scheme
Brooklyn man gets up to 12 years in $16 million Coinbase case
Ronald Spektor, 23, of Brooklyn, New York, has been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison for his role in stealing about $16 million in cryptocurrency from Coinbase users, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Coinbase is one of the largest crypto exchanges, meaning a platform where people buy, sell and store digital assets.
Spektor pleaded guilty on September 2 to all 31 counts, including first-degree money laundering and grand larceny. Bitcoin Magazine reported that he will face 12 years in prison, while the district attorney's announcement described the punishment as up to 12 years.
Key numbers in the case
- About $16 million in crypto was stolen from Coinbase users.
- Spektor, 23, pleaded guilty to 31 counts.
- Some victims lost $1 million or more.
- He must give up more than $500,000 in assets and pay nearly $16 million in restitution.
- Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of seven to 21 years.
What the Brooklyn district attorney said
District Attorney Gonzalez said the office's Virtual Currency Unit gathered digital evidence that identified the person behind the scheme, traced the stolen money and built the case against him.
"This case should put crypto scammers on notice: we will follow the digital trail wherever it leads and aggressively pursue those responsible," Gonzalez said in a statement.
How the scheme worked, according to the district attorney's office
Investigators said Spektor posed as a representative of Coinbase and told victims their accounts were under threat from hackers. He then persuaded them to move their crypto into what they thought was a safe new wallet. A wallet is a place where crypto is stored, and only someone with its keys can move the funds.
According to the district attorney's office, Spektor controlled those wallets, emptied them and moved the money through swapping and mixing services and crypto gambling sites. Mixing services are tools that blend crypto transactions to make the money harder to trace.
Investigators with the Virtual Currency Unit said they linked Spektor's home internet address to several victims' wallets. They also said he recruited helpers on online forums and bragged about the thefts on a Telegram channel under the handle @lolimfeelingevil, the same name he used online. Recovered messages showed he claimed to have gambled away $6 million in crypto. After fraud allegations appeared online, he got rid of a hardware wallet and bought a new one, the office said.
What is still unclear
The two accounts of the sentence length do not fully match. The district attorney's announcement said up to 12 years, while Bitcoin Magazine reported a 12-year sentence. Justice Danny Chun imposed the promised sentence over the objections of prosecutors, who had sought seven to 21 years.
The statement that Spektor gambled away $6 million comes from messages he is said to have written, not from a confirmed finding reported by officials.
What officials want crypto users to remember
Officials repeated a warning that Coinbase will never call customers or ask them to move their funds to a "safe wallet." The case shows how scammers can use a phone call and a fake support story to reach a victim's crypto, rather than breaking into an exchange directly.
Sources
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.