US appeals time served sentences for HashFlare Ponzi schemers

Prosecutors appealed the sentences given to HashFlare founders Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, after arguing the pair should get 10 years in prison.

US prosecutors appealed the sentences of time served given to the co-founders of HashFlare, a crypto mining service and $577 million Ponzi scheme.

Prosecutors told a Seattle federal court on Tuesday that the government was appealing the sentences handed down earlier this month to Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin.

Potapenko and Turõgin were in custody for 16 months in their native Estonia after their arrest in October 2022 and were extradited to the US in May 2024, where they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

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