The founder of CluCoin, a cryptocurrency project that once peaked at $17 million in market value, is heading to prison after gambling away more than a million dollars of investor funds.
Austin Michael Taylor, 41, of Sykesville, Maryland, was sentenced to 27 months in prison on February 14, 2025, for wire fraud. The military veteran turned crypto entrepreneur must also pay $1.14 million in restitution – money he lost betting at online casinos between May and December 2022.
Former military vet turned crypto founder gets prison time and $1.14M bill after gambling away investor funds at online casinos.
It’s a spectacular fall from grace for Taylor, who launched CluCoin on BNB Chain in May 2021 with lofty promises of charitable initiatives and metaverse expansion. He even organized “NFTCon: Into the Metaverse” in Miami. Spoiler alert: the metaverse didn’t save him from prison.
The fraud came to light when investigators discovered Taylor had transferred $1.14 million of investor funds to his personal account. Taylor used his large social media following to convince investors to participate in the initial coin offering. Following his guilty plea in August 2024, CluCoin’s market cap has since plummeted to a measly $54,133. So much for those charitable initiatives.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra wasn’t entirely unsympathetic. Taylor’s military service, completion of mental health treatment, and attendance at Gamblers Anonymous meetings were considered during sentencing. He even showed up with $25,000 ready for initial restitution. But apparently, that wasn’t enough to dodge prison time.
In an interesting twist, the FBI notified victims through NFTs – because apparently, regular emails are too mainstream for crypto fraud cases. Victims can now file their complaints at fbi.gov/CluCoinInvestors, though they shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for their money back.
The case has become a cautionary tale in the crypto world, especially for investors in the project’s Goobers NFT collection, which saw its floor price crash from a peak of 55.25 ETH.
Prosecutors emphasized the need for deterrence in crypto fraud cases, proving that even in the wild west of cryptocurrency, old-fashioned wire fraud still gets you locked up.
