A crypto pyramid scheme for casino games in Connecticut.

[Julien_Olynpic]

If you're wondering whether a crypto pyramid scheme designed for casino games could exist, I can give you a relatively recent example from early 2026.

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/ct-crypto-fraud-elmin-redzepagic-wolcott-scsu-21352180.php


Elmin Redzepagic, a 25-year-old student from Connecticut, organized a crypto Ponzi scheme that collected funds in Bitcoin and used the money to play casino games on the Stake.com platform. He promised investors that he would invest their funds in cryptocurrency and promised high percentage returns.
Elmin made large payments to some of the victims to maintain the illusion of an investment process. There are many details to this story, and you can explore them all yourself.

[Futurexxx]

In this digital space, ignorance is way more expensive than what you can ever imagined, because these scammers, fraudsters or hackers thrive when their victim is ignorant or has less knowledgeable on how they operate.

Another thing that makes even the experience crypto enthusiastic falls victim to things like this is greed, because once anyone comes with a proposal that is just too good, their greed will not let them think, they will just jump into it, and when they have fell victim to it, they starts looking at who or where to push the blame on, but until some of these people learn the hard way, they will not learn their lesson.

[TopTort777]

Taking money for imaginary reason to use them in gambling is no new scheme for me I think every adult in era of 90s and y2k got into such scam scheme where his work colleague, friend or neighbor promised something, grabbed money and gambled them. Time flies, same scam schemes are used, scammers only adjust them to modern world. Funny that investment is gambling in some way also, so that dude did no lie much to his investors

[Oshosondy]

It is not mentioned that it is a pyramidal scheme. What was mentioned is that he lost $9500000 or close to $1 million of investors money. It may be or may not be a pyramidal scheme.

If he has been paying some investors and lost the money to gambling, it may be a pyramidal scheme.
If he lost the money, but from his own money, it may not be fraud.
If he lost the money but no investors have been paid, that is a scam, but not pyramidal scheme.
The business may be real, but misappropriated customers money.

He denied the allegations.
He was granted bail for $500000.

[un_rank]

If you're wondering whether a crypto pyramid scheme designed for casino games could exist...

It is just a pyramid scheme, not a crypto one and not related to gambling. All pyramid schemes promise to invest the money received somewhere which will give guaranteed returns. The investment option here happens to be crypto and the scammer happens to be an addict that gambled the money away.
The victims were not aware their money was being used to gamble.

It is not mentioned that it is a pyramidal scheme. What was mentioned is that he lost $9500000 or close to $1 million of investors money. It may be or may not be a pyramidal scheme.

Old investors that wanted out were paid with money received from new investors. That is a pyramid scheme.

- Jay -

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Elmin Redzepagic, a 25-year-old student from Connecticut, organized a crypto Ponzi scheme that collected funds in Bitcoin and used the money to play casino games on the Stake.com platform. He promised investors that he would invest their funds in cryptocurrency and promised high percentage returns.
Elmin made large payments to some of the victims to maintain the illusion of an investment process. There are many details to this story, and you can explore them all yourself.

This is not new though, there has been a lot of pyramiding scheme way back, and it is called "Bitcoin Doubler",

Like most crypto scams, the Bitcoin doubler scheme preys on individuals who don’t understand how cryptocurrencies (or investments in general) work. To many, crypto is still just “magic internet money.” They see reports of coins’ values appreciating by a million percent or more and assume that there must be a secret to cashing in on those gains.

https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/724003

And that is the thing, first when you investment on them, they will give you the payout. And so you thought that it's real and you deposit bigger amount until the pyramid collapses.

[danherbias07]

Elmin Redzepagic of Wolcott has been charged in a 21-count indictment for offenses related to an alleged cryptocurrency fraud scheme.

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/wolcott-man-indicted-for-cryptocurrency-fraud-scheme

My gosh. He had been doing some nasty things even at an early age. Still, Elmin has the capacity to pay a $500,000 bond despite his gambling problem.

Although, I am confused about some of the information.

In the link that I shared, he pleaded not guilty.
In this link: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/wolcott-man-pleads-guilty-charges-stemming-cryptocurrency-fraud-scheme - He pleaded guilty.

Redzepagic pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count; one count of international money laundering, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; and one count of making a false statement to IRS Criminal Investigation agents, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.  Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for January 11, 2027.

They may be different dates. Let's see what happens on the date that was mentioned.

[PostQuantumBTC]

He is a basketballer but he is not satisfied with the amount of money he is earning and he decided to upgrade it to stupidity or something that is very foolish that will have bad ending by advising people to invest and he is using the money to gamble on Stake. I do not know the reason some people do not know they can tarnish their name and the name of their family with investment fraud.

[DanWalker]

Hmm, looking at this dangerous mix of crypto and online casino, it seems that people become completely blinded by greed.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/wolcott-man-pleads-guilty-charges-stemming-cryptocurrency-fraud-scheme
Do you know what the most important thing is?

Two days ago, I read on US justice.gov that Elmin has pleaded guilty in court to charge related to his crypto scam and money laundering! He swindled about $1.16 million from around 10 victim.

He took people’s Bitcoin and crypto fund, went straight to casino and gambled it all away and lost everything. To pull wool over people's eyes, they would initially pay out some profit and large sum, leading everyone to believe that genuine investment process was underway.

In the link that I shared, he pleaded not guilty.

Mate I also read that news from various source, he actually pleaded guilty.

[Betwrong]

~Elmin Redzepagic, a 25-year-old student from Connecticut, organized a crypto Ponzi scheme that collected funds in Bitcoin and used the money to play casino games on the Stake.com platform. He promised investors that he would invest their funds in cryptocurrency and promised high percentage returns.
Elmin made large payments to some of the victims to maintain the illusion of an investment process. There are many details to this story, and you can explore them all yourself.

I bet he didn't plan to scam them. His plan was to win money in casino and then pay off to his investors. Unlike other pyramid schemes that benefit only some early investors, his investors would receive high returns if he had won. But he lost. He lost all their money, and now he should go in jail, because scammed people who trusted him. If you want to take someone's money, play with it in casino and then give back more than you borrowed, you should say them the truth. If you are telling them that you are going to invest their funds in cryptocurrency - you are deceiving them.

[TheUltraElite]

I have seen people collect funds for funding their gambling adventures in the past as well. The investors are looking for quick profits as well and hence they pool the money into a single pot which the person who is supposed to be the gambler, run away with in some manner or another. Some payments back in the initial days is common to build trust so that the cash flow increases and once they reach their goal they will vanish.

Nothing new in this, unless certain people stop putting their faith in random internet strangers nothing will change.

[PostQuantumBTC]

I bet he didn't plan to scam them. His plan was to win money in casino and then pay off to his investors.

That is the reason I said that the man is foolish with the stupid thinking. If he is not foolish, he should know that gambling is not a means to make money. I believe he has been gambling before and using the money he is earning from basketball to gamble. Just like some people will borrow money to satisfy their gambling addiction urge, he used investment which will be the same as borrowing money because he has interests to to pay his investors. I hope this will teach many people a lesson.

[swogerino]

That is easy to spot. Anyone asking you for investment to compound it for you is an extremely huge red flag. That has been happening in 2013-2016 years a lot with people believing that their cryptocurrencies would compound magically by scammers claiming that they had a lot of gear somewhere in a cold place that could mine the coins. So in this history the only fault is at the people who sent him money, as this is a very old scamming scheme, people should know money does not grow on trees in 2026.

[eisen33]

A classic pyramid scheme, where new investors provide the money needed to pay returns to earlier investors. This kind of scheme can continue to exist as long as new people keep joining, as soon as investors start suspecting that something is wrong and demand their money back, the whole thing collapses. I can’t understand what he was counting on. Did he really think he could win at the casino and pay investors interest on their investments with those winnings? That sounds completely unrealistic. It’s not just unlikely to work, it’s practically impossible to pull off in real life.

[5W-KILO]

High percentage return doing it's thing again, people love it to be honest because everyone want to make money quickly, just like a millionaire once said that people don't do the math, and it's all you need to get rich.

So far you are getting paid every month you should be able to safe some money and if you keep up with it you will have alot of money saved in 4-5years, instead many people believe this is a lot of work with is why HYIP flourishes on the internet.

People don't want to wait, people don't like the long term plans, and it's what's happening around Bitcoin investment right now, they want every money instantly right now..

[Ruttoshi]

It is not mentioned that it is a pyramidal scheme. What was mentioned is that he lost $9500000 or close to $1 million of investors money. It may be or may not be a pyramidal scheme.

It's a pyramid scheme from the article and it mustn't be written that it's a pyramid scheme before we call it one. This is because he didn't make any profit neither was he using these people money for what he told them. Instead, he do transfer whatever, amount of money that was paid to him into an offshore casino and if some of those that gave him money ask for their returns, he uses another people money that he collected to pay them.

It's clear that Elmin is rich or has a rich family for him to be able to bail himself out with the sum of $500000. I hope that more and more people are reading all these scam stories in order for them not to fall into the trap of giving someone money to trade for them.

[gracreavix]

From what I have observed about scams and little research, a Ponzi scheme is advertising a bigger return if people invest and use some people's money to pay others just to keep that fraud image look like legit. While pyramid scheme is requesting for someone to bring others before they see profit.

So after reading your description of what you described, it doesn't fit into these because he actually used the money to try and make profit for investor. The only problem with what he did was the route he took. That money is as good as gone. It's best one investigates properly before giving your hard earned money to people to invest.

[Donk1]

In this digital space, ignorance is way more expensive than what you can ever imagined, because these scammers, fraudsters or hackers thrive when their victim is ignorant or has less knowledgeable on how they operate.

Another thing that makes even the experience crypto enthusiastic falls victim to things like this is greed, because once anyone comes with a proposal that is just too good, their greed will not let them think, they will just jump into it, and when they have fell victim to it, they starts looking at who or where to push the blame on, but until some of these people learn the hard way, they will not learn their lesson.

​Well this isn't about ignorance or not it's about knowledge. Basically the rules to making money /investing is all about you taking a risk, but folks don't understand that every risk comes with a price, and while some are worth it some aren't, and that's the painful part of all this.Though I understand what you're saying but still, the victims who fell for this scheme likely aren't true crypto enthusiasts, because there is a possibility that the victims ar just regular individual who were convinced to convert their money into crypto. Who knows the possibilities are endless...That said this is likely not a new scam because we all know that scammers often evolve from time to time. But where they got caught up is when the scammer paid them it often gives them the mindset of investing more, and that's their mistake. perhaps this is another reason why doing your own research is good, and also asking for solid proof. In fact anything that isn't well known without hype should be put into consideration, especially when it comes to one's investment. So yeah that's all...

[Rruchi man]

Elmin Redzepagic, a 25-year-old student from Connecticut, organized a crypto Ponzi scheme that collected funds in Bitcoin and used the money to play casino games on the Stake.com platform. He promised investors that he would invest their funds in cryptocurrency and promised high percentage returns.

Unfortunately people will continue to fall for these sort of scheme whenever it is repackaged and presented. I will not blame the victims for being just greedy because they actually have the intention of Investing, just doing it through the wrong means because they are lazy.

Individuals with an interest in investing will try to make sure that it is something they learn to do on their own, not outsource to other people which is a totally terrible move to make.

People who are usually organizers of this kinds of Ponzi’s are people who have positioned themselves to seem as people who possess a lot of knowledge in investing in cryptocurrency, hence the reason they can gather trust from people who are interested to profit from cryptocurrency without the rigor of learning.

[stadus]

So this guy is kinda stupid because of all the casinos he could gamble in he chose Stake where KYC is mandatory.

I did not read the full story, I just relied on what you shared in the OP, I'm assuming he was caught because of that trail?
Because I believe that is the relevance of the topic, and not just the news that someone scammed people to gamble, that's just very common if they are not caught.