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Jack-out-a-box
The infamous GOP Washington lobbyist who spent four years in prison on fraud charges for taking advantage of tribal gaming interests, “Casino” Jack Abramoff, has avoided a return trip inside for cryptocurrency fraud after he was diagnosed with cancer.
“pump-and-dump” crypto scheme
On Tuesday, Judge Richard Seeborg sentenced Abramoff, 67, to three years of federal probation in relation to his role at what court records state was AML Bitcoin, a $5.6m “pump-and-dump” crypto scheme.
As with his previous stint in the slammer, the US District Court for the Northern District of California heard that Abramoff’s latest criminal scheme also involved lobbying and marketing.
Judge Seeborg, however, cited Abramoff’s “aggressive cancer diagnosis” as his basis for a commuted sentence, adding there was “little prospect” of the convicted felon returning to crime.
The judge nevertheless ordered the ailing defendant to pony up $2.2m, a restitution sum for the crypto scheme’s victims.
Fraud and fictions
Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) in connection with his work for AML Bitcoin and its principal, Rowland Marcus Andrade.
Part of Abramoff’s 2020 plea deal was a requirement to cooperate with federal prosecutors, which led him to provide testimony against his co-defendant Andrade, who was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in March 2025.
Andrade’s conviction subsequently brought Abramoff’s final sentencing trial to court this week.
According to reports, Andrade and Abramoff duped investors into believing AML Bitcoin had interest from multiple government agencies, that it possessed built-in anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, and theft-resistant technology, and used a “privately regulated public blockchain,” which, according to prosecutors, was all fiction.
ships were close to adopting the currency
Other yarns the pair spun included that ships were close to adopting the currency to pay passage fees through the Panama Canal, and that a Super Bowl ad they made to showcase their brand was canceled for being “too political,” when the truth was the pair were too broke to pay for it, court documents reveal.
Crimes inspired a movie
Despite the tall tales, the two worked to boost the token’s trading power, enabling Andrade to divert over $2m in proceeds at its peak.
According to reports, Abramoff has become the first person found guilty of violating the amended LDA, an act that was updated in 2007 thanks to Abramoff’s own misconduct in the early 2000s. This was after the feds found him and co-conspirators guilty of grossly overcharging several tribes and secretly lobbying against some of them.
Abramoff served 43 months of a six-year sentence before walking out of prison in 2010, the same year “Casino Jack,” a film inspired by his exploits starring Kevin Spacey, hit the US box office.
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