Ivan Turõgin
Estonian co-founder of HashFlare, a cloud-mining service the DOJ called a $577M Ponzi scheme. He pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy in 2025 and was sentenced to time served (16 months).
Also known as: Ivan Turogin, Ivan Turõgin
Bio
Ivan Turõgin co-founded HashFlare with Sergei Potapenko. The DOJ said the service sold over $577 million in mining contracts from 2015 to 2019 without the capacity to perform most of the promised mining, displaying fabricated profits to customers. [1][2]
Legal outcome
Turõgin was arrested in 2022, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in February 2025, and in August 2025 was sentenced to 16 months (time served) plus supervised release, a $25,000 fine, and community service, with large asset forfeitures earmarked for victims. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
- Two Estonian Nationals Plead Guilty in $577M Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme — U.S. DOJ
- Estonian nationals sentenced in WA for $577M Ponzi scheme — The Spokesman-Review
See also
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Profit ConnectProjectsA Las Vegas company that the SEC said was a $12M+ Ponzi scheme: it told 277+ investors their money would be invested in securities and crypto via an 'artificial intelligence supercomputer' guaranteeing 20–30% annual returns. The SEC halted it in 2021; over 90% of funds came from investors.
- Dropil (DROP)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.