[2019-07-12]BitFunder CEO Gets 14 Months Prison Time

[ppblockchain]

A former cryptocurrency executive is heading to prison after a New York judge found him guilty of securities fraud and obstruction of justice.

Jon Montroll, who was the operator of WeExchange and BitFunder, will be imprisoned for 14 months. Following his release, he will be supervised by authorities for another three years.

Read more : https://paperblockchain.com/bitfunder-ceo-gets-14-months-prison-time/

[Slow death]

I do not understand, if he really did not steal the funds from his clients, and if this was proven, and if his exchange was really targeted by a hacker attack and if it was actually proven this, because he's taking a 14-month prison and a fine of $ 176,000? Is  that his prison sentence should not be less since it was not his fault, but the hacker? I realize that he lied and closed the exchange without justification, but it still seems a very severe penalty. Or am I missing something in this story?

[buwaytress]

Obstruction of justice seems pretty bad enough as far as white-collar crime goes, I think it's the state or the judge that determines if it's indictable offence or just summary offence (in US, the equivalent is a misdemeanour) -- looks like the former in this case. It's a deterrent so people cooperate with enforcement to seek as swift as possible outcomes.

Anyway, if he had realised the hack, and yet allowed people to continue depositing, as it seems he did, then yeah, he was paying off old user withdrawals with new people's funds. Not with his own or their own. That's ponzi-like. 14 months is a bit, but it doesn't seem like he's saddled with debts after that, I'd say he got off lightly.

[stomachgrowls]

Anyway, if he had realised the hack, and yet allowed people to continue depositing, as it seems he did, then yeah, he was paying off old user withdrawals with new people's funds. Not with his own or their own. That's ponzi-like. 14 months is a bit, but it doesn't seem like he's saddled with debts after that, I'd say he got off lightly.

This is the mistake on his part which instead on telling the site have been hacked publicly,he decide to keep it secret.
He pulls out some of his own money as per article mentioned but it didnt still worked.Instead on stopping it completely he do decide to
go further more until it collapse.`Does 14 months imprison too much? yes it is.

[Lucius]

14 months in prison for 6000 stolen bitcoins? If he is behind this and he manage to hide only 10% of that in safe place, then he is currently has over $7 million reasons the be happy with such low prison sentences.

We can not say is he just stupid because he did not admit that his exchange is hacked, or this is just his plan from the very beginning. I think at that time (2012) this is not so much money that he would escape with it, but today this money is a fortune.

What surprises me more in this story is fact that justice was so slow, 7 years from incidents and he is still free. I was thinking that justice in USA is much faster and more efficient, but obviously I was wrong.

[Naida_BR]

What I have understood is that there are a lot of risks when you are an administrative member of a cryptocurrency company.
I don't include frauds and scammers that are punished fairly, I am talking about other manager who don't know the regulations and laws and they end up being in prison because of violating rules they didn't know.

I hope that scammers will go to prison for more that 14 months as they deserve it for stealing so much money. This period is nothing for the money that he stole.

[pixie85]

14 months in prison for 6000 stolen bitcoins? If he is behind this and he manage to hide only 10% of that in safe place, then he is currently has over $7 million reasons the be happy with such low prison sentences.

We can not say is he just stupid because he did not admit that his exchange is hacked, or this is just his plan from the very beginning. I think at that time (2012) this is not so much money that he would escape with it, but today this money is a fortune.

What surprises me more in this story is fact that justice was so slow, 7 years from incidents and he is still free. I was thinking that justice in USA is much faster and more efficient, but obviously I was wrong.

Pretty much like that con man Josh Garza. White collar crimes are still worth it every time. You scam people and if you get caught the case will drag on for years giving you enough time to prepare for prison and hide everything. Worst case scenario you get 5 years but usually 2 or even less and when you come out your money is waiting for you.

[joelsamuya]

Anyway, if he had realised the hack, and yet allowed people to continue depositing, as it seems he did, then yeah, he was paying off old user withdrawals with new people's funds. Not with his own or their own. That's ponzi-like. 14 months is a bit, but it doesn't seem like he's saddled with debts after that, I'd say he got off lightly.

This is the mistake on his part which instead on telling the site have been hacked publicly,he decide to keep it secret.
He pulls out some of his own money as per article mentioned but it didnt still worked.Instead on stopping it completely he do decide to
go further more until it collapse.`Does 14 months imprison too much? yes it is.

This should be serving a big lesson to all people involved with cryptocurrency exchange or related business to always be following the rules and the law. All exchanges have the responsibility to be transparent because this involves public trust -- people are trusting the exchange with their own hard-earned money. Not telling the truth as soon as possible can have consequences especially if your business is connected with many users or members. In my view, getting the 14-month sentence is actually light.

[bryant.coleman]

I do not understand, if he really did not steal the funds from his clients, and if this was proven, and if his exchange was really targeted by a hacker attack and if it was actually proven this, because he's taking a 14-month prison and a fine of $ 176,000? Is  that his prison sentence should not be less since it was not his fault, but the hacker? I realize that he lied and closed the exchange without justification, but it still seems a very severe penalty. Or am I missing something in this story?

The prison sentence he received was for "obstruction of justice". He lied to the investigators that he had managed to identify the hack in the early phases. He also cheated his clients by refusing to reveal the true extent of the hack. Had he done so, then the clients would have immediately withdrawn whatever funds they had remaining in these platforms. The judges were not happy with the fact that he gave false balance statements (for the exchange) to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Falsifying the balance sheets is unethical as well as criminal, and I am happy that he managed to avoid a lengthier term.

[Lucius]

Worst case scenario you get 5 years but usually 2 or even less and when you come out your money is waiting for you.

Exactly, in a way such crimes are encouraged by so funny small penalties, and some people just think "Should I work hard whole life, or go few months in jail and live rest of my life as king?". At the end system is in their own strange way always on the side of those who committed such acts, maybe because they are also doing same things, and this is something normal.

Falsifying the balance sheets is unethical as well as criminal, and I am happy that he managed to avoid a lengthier term.

Strange thinking, you are happy that this criminal is avoid more then 14 months in jail? Are you also happy for all users who lost money because of him and fact that he will try to scam people again in future?

[Betwrong]

I do not understand, if he really did not steal the funds from his clients, and if this was proven, and if his exchange was really targeted by a hacker attack and if it was actually proven this, because he's taking a 14-month prison and a fine of $ 176,000? Is  that his prison sentence should not be less since it was not his fault, but the hacker? I realize that he lied and closed the exchange without justification, but it still seems a very severe penalty. Or am I missing something in this story?

We don't know, and, actually, we can't know for sure whether or not Jon Montroll's associates were behind this hack. He was lucky that he was prosecuted in the US, because where I live, if they caught you lying during the investigation, you will be found guilty in everything, even in crimes you never committed. The logic behind that is a simple one: "a liar is always a liar". I'm not saying this is a right approach to judicial process, but it is practised in many countries, so, again, he's a lucky guy.

[davis196]

Worst case scenario you get 5 years but usually 2 or even less and when you come out your money is waiting for you.

Exactly, in a way such crimes are encouraged by so funny small penalties, and some people just think "Should I work hard whole life, or go few months in jail and live rest of my life as king?". At the end system is in their own strange way always on the side of those who committed such acts, maybe because they are also doing same things, and this is something normal.

Falsifying the balance sheets is unethical as well as criminal, and I am happy that he managed to avoid a lengthier term.

Strange thinking, you are happy that this criminal is avoid more then 14 months in jail? Are you also happy for all users who lost money because of him and fact that he will try to scam people again in future?

I don't think that he will try to scam people again in the future.The authorities will track all his movements,after he gets out of prison and we already know that this guy was involved in illegal activities,so every project with his name in developers/business owners list won't receive any trust or support from the crypto community.

[bryant.coleman]

Falsifying the balance sheets is unethical as well as criminal, and I am happy that he managed to avoid a lengthier term.

Strange thinking, you are happy that this criminal is avoid more than 14 months in jail? Are you also happy for all users who lost money because of him and fact that he will try to scam people again in future?

Please don't misunderstand me. I am not supporting what he did. What he did was completely unethical and illegal (as I had stated earlier).

But at the same time, we can't put the entire blame on him. BitFunder was operating 100% legally and ethically until the hack occured. The exchange lost some coins, and ideally Jon Montroll should have gone to the law enforcement immediately after informing the users of the incident. I am not entirely sure why he tried to hide the incident. Perhaps setting up the exchange took too many years of effort and he was not willing to lose his creation.

What he did was not right and he got the punishment for that. I think that 14 months is a just punishment. And I don't support a harsher punishment, considering his contribution to the crypto-exchanges and personal background.