Former rugby player scammed $900K in Seattle crypto ponzi scheme, sentenced to 30 months in prison

A 37-year-old former semi-pro rugby player in Seattle was sentenced to 30 months in prison for wire fraud on Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

Shane Donovan Moore operated Quantum Donovan LLC, a Washington company that Moore claimed purchased and operated cryptocurrency mining equipment, although the company never purchased such equipment, and operated as a Ponzi scheme.

Seattle crypto mining fraud

Between Jan. 2021 and Oct. 2022, Moore obtained funding from investors through fraudulent promises, claiming in both written and verbal formats that the invested funds would be used to purchase computers for a cryptocurrency mining operation.

Moore told investors that they would receive 1% of their investment daily, which was based on the production of the cryptocurrency mining machines. Moore did not purchase the mining machines; instead, he combined investor funds with his personal accounts and spent the money on himself.

“Mr. Moore used the newness of cryptocurrency to commit an age-old fraud – a Ponzi scheme,” Acting U.S. Attorney Miller stated. “He solicited more than $900,000 from some 40 investors, claiming it would be used for ‘mining cryptocurrency.’ Instead, the money went to support a lavish lifestyle and to pay off the earliest investors to keep the fraud going. He left a path of damaged relationships in his wake.”

Additionally, Moore used some of the funds to purchase cryptocurrency and pay back investors under the guise that his cryptocurrency mining operation even existed. Early investors in Moore’s LLC recruited friends and family to invest in the company, but this led to anger and accusations of fraud when the losses piled up.

“Instead of purchasing cryptocurrency mining equipment, Moore commingled victim-investor funds with his personal accounts and used victim-investor funds to finance his lifestyle and pay his personal living expenses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Wynne wrote to the court. “He used victim-investors’ funds to purchase luggage, travel, clothing, electronics, and pay for a deposit for a luxury apartment. All told, victim-investors suffered a loss of more than $387,000.”

The DOJ noted that many of the investors were people Moore knew from his time playing rugby, and recruited investors from Washington, Oregon, Utah, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

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