California lawyer ordered to pay $14 million over crypto Ponzi scheme

An 86-year-old, disbarred California attorney has been sentenced to five years of probation for his role in a $9.5 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro in Las Vegas on Monday also ordered the ex-Beverly Hills lawyer David Kagel to pay nearly $14 million in restitution after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit commodity fraud.
Victims thought they were pouring money into a program that used trading bots to invest in cryptocurrency markets, prosecutors said. They were also falsely told that Kagel had $11 million in escrow that guaranteed their investments.
Kagel helped promote the scam by drafting letters on his law firm’s letterhead which were then sent to victims, creating a “false sense of security and trust,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors sought a five-year probation sentence for Kagel, noting that he has said he is in “ailing health.”
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