{"id":754,"date":"2026-02-15T16:10:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/?p=754"},"modified":"2026-02-15T16:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:10:41","slug":"safemoon-scandal-ends-with-8-year-sentence-for-ex-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/safemoon-scandal-ends-with-8-year-sentence-for-ex-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"SafeMoon Scandal Ends With 8-Year Sentence for Ex-CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"382\" height=\"131\" data-id=\"755\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1535.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1535.png 382w, https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1535-300x103.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Braden John Karony, former CEO of SafeMoon, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for orchestrating a multi-million dollar crypto fraud. The ruling came from U.S. District Judge Eric Komite in Brooklyn after a jury convicted Karony in May 2025 following a three-week trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karony was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He must forfeit roughly $7.5 million, while restitution for victims will be decided later. The jury also ordered the forfeiture of two residential properties. Co-conspirator Thomas Smith pleaded guilty earlier and awaits sentencing, while Kyle Nagy remains at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Joseph Nocella Jr., Karony deceived thousands of investors including military veterans to fund a lavish lifestyle. FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle said Karony misused over $9 million in crypto to buy luxury homes and vehicles, including a $2.2 million Utah residence, other properties in Kansas, an Audi R8, a Tesla, and customized trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The scheme exploited Karony\u2019s access to SafeMoon\u2019s liquidity pool while attempting to hide the transactions. SafeMoon tokens, launched in March 2021, charged a 10% tax on transactions to boost holders\u2019 balances and liquidity pools. Prosecutors allege that Karony and his partners misrepresented the company\u2019s reserves, claiming they were locked and would only be used for business purposes, while secretly diverting millions for personal gain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Braden John Karony, former CEO of SafeMoon, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for orchestrating a multi-million dollar crypto fraud. The ruling came from&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}