Promoter Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud Conspiracy
On January 27, 2025, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Antonia Perez Hernandez, a major promoter of the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme Forcount, to 30 months in prison. Hernandez had pleaded guilty to conspiring with others in a scheme that bilked investors out of approximately $8.4 million from 2017 until 2021. She and co-conspirators lured victims by touting a fake crypto trading and mining operation that promised returns that never materialized.
U.S District Judge Analisa Torres, who also presides over the SEC’s headline case against Ripple Labs, ripped into Hernandez over her actions touting what she called “valueless coins.” Evidence was also there in court to prove Hernandez ran a similar racket even outside of Forcount.
Apologies and Sentencing Outcomes
Hernandez appeared remorseful at the hearing and apologized for her actions in light of the money lost by the investors, but her sentencing is only partial of the Forcount operation’s greater crackdown.
Juan Tacuri, a high-ranking promoter of the scheme, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2024. In November, another co-conspirator, Nestor Nuñez, received a four-year sentence after pleading guilty around the same time as Hernandez. This really puts in perspective just how egregious the fraud was that financially decimated so many victims.
Forcount Ponzi Scheme Explained
Prosecutors said Forcount’s founders and promoters made phony claims of lucrative crypto trading and mining businesses, promising investors that their money would double in six months. Instead, the defendants paid earlier investors returns with money contributed by new investors-the classic markers of a Ponzi scheme.
The US Justice Department emphasized that Forcount’s business was “egregiously deceptive in exploiting the lack of understanding of many victims about cryptocurrency.”
Changes in Crypto Crime Enforcement at SDNY
This case also seems to reflect potential changes in the focus of enforcement at the SDNY. After US Attorney Damian Williams stepped down last December 2024, sources revealed that the resources assigned for prosecuting crimes related to cryptocurrency might be reduced.
The nomination of Jay Clayton, former Chair of the SEC and a Wall Street insider, by President Donald Trump to take Williams’s place could be another signal of that shift in focus. Since his departure from the SEC, Clayton has advised digital asset firms on the subject, possibly influencing future legal strategies involving crypto cases.
The sentencing of Hernandez marks another chapter in the effort to hold crypto fraudsters accountable while raising questions about the future of crypto crime enforcement.
