Homero Joshua Garza
Founder of GAW Miners and ZenMiner, which sold 'hashlets' and the PayCoin token. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud over a ~$9.18M virtual-currency Ponzi scheme and was sentenced in 2018 to 21 months in prison and over $9M in restitution.
Also known as: Josh Garza, Homero Garza
Bio
Homero Joshua Garza founded GAW Miners and ZenMiner. Beginning in 2014 the companies sold "hashlets" — purported shares of cryptocurrency mining profits — and later the PayCoin (XPY) token, claiming a $100 million reserve would keep its price above $20. [1][2]
Legal outcome
According to the SEC, GAW/ZenMiner lacked the capacity to mine at the scale sold, so most customers paid for computing power that never existed and "returns" came from new investor money. Garza pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2017 and, on September 13, 2018, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $9,182,000 in restitution. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
- Homero Joshua Garza, GAW Miners, LLC, and ZenMiner, LLC (litigation release) — U.S. SEC
- Connecticut Bitcoin Mining Fraudster Sentenced to 21 Months — Kahn Tax Law (DOJ release summary)
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.
