Former top manager of African Gold Acquisition was sentenced to three years for cryptocurrency fraud – Bits Media

Former financial director of the African Gold Acquisition Corp gold mining company Cooper Morgentau was sentenced to three years in prison for theft, used to trade cryptocurrencies.

According to the press release of the US Department of Justice, In the period from June 2021 years to August 2022 year Cooper Morgentau (Cooper Morgenthau) I appropriated more $5 Milln from African Gold Acquisition Corp, Strategic Metals Acquisition Corp I и Strategic Metals Acquisition Corp II. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Morgentau translated around $1,2 Milln from African Gold to its personal accounts, and used the assigned funds for the sale of crypto actures and meme tokens. At the same time, he traded at a loss and lost almost all funds.

To hide the loss, The violator provided to accountants and auditor African Gold Falsified documents, which led to significant distortions in the financial reports of the company, provided in SEC. Rest $4,7 Milln Morgentau attracted private investors, convincing them, that financing will be used to launch another specialized acquisition company (SPAC). In August 2022 year African Gold has discovered a shortage and fired Morgentau, Having informed the SEC about its abuse of official position.

In January, Morgentau pleaded guilty to one point of accusation of fraud using electronic communications. Recently district judge of the United States Paul A. Engemeier (Paul has. Engelmayer) He sentenced the offender to 36 months of imprisonment. The court also ruled, so that law enforcement officers confiscate at Morgentau $5.1 million, and the same amount should be paid to them as compensation for damage.

“This sentence for Cooper Morgentau will be a warning, that the fraud in the SPAC markets is punishable, And the greed of the so-called wolves in Wall Street entails serious consequences ", - said US prosecutor Damian Williams (Damian Williams).

Recall, that in March, the US District Court sentenced another violator to three years in prison for the deception of investors on $2 million using a fraudulent scheme for mining cryptocurrencies.