Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Deutsche Bank investment banker pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi-like fraud that promised investors guaranteed profits on cryptocurrency trading and a U.S. judge sentenced him to 41 months in prison on Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Lashawn Russell, 28, of Brooklyn, was sentenced eight months after pleading guilty to wire fraud and access device fraud and three months after his bail was revoked.
Russell was ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to his victims.
The federal public defender representing Russell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russell allegedly told friends, former college classmates and former Deutsche Bank colleagues that he could make a 25 percent profit in three months, and that he had doubled investors' money in the three months prior to that.
The scheme ran from November 2020 to August 2022, with Russell using some of the funds for gambling and to repay previous investors, according to court documents.
Prosecutors also said that in a separate fraud scheme, Russell obtained at least 140 credit cards, debit cards and identification documents in the names of third parties and used the stolen card information to open online gambling accounts and make fraudulent purchases.
Russell was jailed in February after prosecutors accused him of continuing the identity theft scheme after his arrest. He was under house detention.
In a letter to the sentencing judge this month, Russell said he “deeply regrets the victimization of many close friends and acquaintances” and squandered their money on a “devastating” gambling and substance abuse addiction.
Russell worked at Deutsche Bank from July 2018 to November 2021, according to court and securities industry records.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined Deutsche Bank as an analyst and was promoted to associate two years later.
Deutsche Bank has not been accused of wrongdoing.
