{"id":20618,"date":"2024-10-10T06:09:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T06:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/?p=20618"},"modified":"2024-10-10T06:09:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T06:09:17","slug":"elderly-fraudster-the-shocking-tale-of-an-86-year-old-who-swindled-crypto-investors-and-faced-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/elderly-fraudster-the-shocking-tale-of-an-86-year-old-who-swindled-crypto-investors-and-faced-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly Fraudster: The Shocking Tale of an 86-Year-Old Who Swindled Crypto Investors and Faced Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Kagel, an 86-year-old former lawyer from California, has been sentenced<\/a> to five years of probation and must pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his role in a fraudulent crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of millions.<\/p>\n

Kagel, who admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit commodity fraud in May, was sentenced on October 8 by Judge Gloria Navarro at the Las Vegas Federal Court.<\/p>\n

Due to his poor health, he is currently in hospice care at a retirement facility in Las Vegas and will serve his probation there. If his condition improves and he leaves the facility, he’ll be required to wear a monitoring device.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Background of the Scheme<\/span><\/h2>\n

The court ruling arises from a Ponzi scheme linked to crypto investments that Kagel, along with co-conspirators David Saffron and Vincent Mazzotta, conducted from December 2017 to June 2022, enticing investors with a bogus cryptocurrency trading bot program.<\/p>\n

The authorities uncovered that the scam potentially swindled around $15 million from victims, enticing them with promises of “high returns with minimal risk.”<\/p>\n

Kagel played a crucial role, utilizing his law firm’s official stationery to lend an air of credibility to the scheme, reassuring investors that they were engaging in a secure investment.<\/p>\n

Many victims were misled by the authoritative impression of a lawyer\u2019s guarantee and legitimate-looking documents.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the fraudsters promised to reimburse investors their original amount plus profits between 20% to 100% within a month, making it seem as if automated trading bots would ensure risk-free profits.<\/p>\n

Kagel falsely stated that he had $11 million worth of Bitcoin in escrow to secure investors’ funds and deceived them into believing he had prior investment success in cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

The prosecutors indicated that Kagel’s actions were instrumental in promoting this fraudulent scheme, which managed to accumulate millions from victims over several years before it was uncovered.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Legal Outcomes and Future Implications<\/span><\/h2>\n

Kagel has acknowledged his involvement in the scheme and accepted his sentence, but legal challenges continue for his associates.<\/p>\n

Saffron and Mazzotta have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial in federal court in Los Angeles in April 2025, where they could face serious penalties if found guilty.<\/p>\n

Kagel’s troubles extend beyond the Ponzi scheme; his law license was revoked earlier this year by the California Supreme Court due to non-responsiveness to “disciplinary charges.”<\/p>\n

This revocation was the third time his license faced jeopardy, with previous suspensions occurring in 1997 and 2012. His ongoing legal issues reflect a pattern of violating professional and ethical standards.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Kagel, an 86-year-old former lawyer from California, has been sentenced to five years of probation and must pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his role in a fraudulent crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of millions. Kagel, who admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit commodity fraud in May, was sentenced on October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Elderly Fraudster: The Shocking Tale of an 86-Year-Old Who Swindled Crypto Investors and Faced Justice - Bitrabo","description":"David Kagel, an 86-year-old former lawyer from California, has been sentenced to five years of probation and must pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[9265,9263,4123,504,9264,9266,682,464,847],"class_list":["post-20618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto-news","tag-86-year-old","tag-86year","tag-caught","tag-crypto","tag-defrauded","tag-defrauded-investors","tag-heres","tag-investors","tag-scandal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitrabo.com\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}