Chirag Tomar, the organizer of the fake Coinbase Pro site, was sentenced to 60 months in prison. The scam, which started in June 2021, netted the perpetrators over $20 million stolen from victims worldwide.
Tomar and his associates created a fake site mimicking Coinbase Pro and used phishing attacks to gain access to users' accounts, after which they withdrew cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.
With the stolen money, Tomar purchased luxury cars, expensive watches, and traveled around the world.
The U.S. Department of Justice noted that the sentence should serve as a warning to cryptocurrency fraudsters.