Braden John Karony
CEO of SafeMoon. Convicted by a federal jury in May 2025 of securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and sentenced to 100 months in prison.
Also known as: John Karony
Bio
Braden John Karony was CEO of SafeMoon. The SEC and DOJ said he and others falsely told investors the project's liquidity pool was "locked" while retaining access and misappropriating assets worth more than $200 million. [1][2]
Legal outcome
Karony was convicted by a federal jury in May 2025 of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and was sentenced to 100 months in prison and ordered to forfeit about $7.5 million. CTO Thomas Smith pleaded guilty; founder Kyle Nagy remained at large per reporting. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
- CEO of SafeMoon Sentenced to 100 Months in Prison — U.S. DOJ (EDNY)
- SEC Charges Crypto Company SafeMoon and its Executive Team — U.S. SEC
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
