Former US Bank CEO Arrested For Stealing $47M In Crypto Scheme (image @ Pixabay)
Shane Hanes, a former chief executive officer (CEO) of a US bank, has been awarded prison sentence in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme. He was sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison for embezzling $47 million, said media report.
Hames, the former Heartland Tri-State Bank CEO, fell for a “pig butchering” scam that had him purchasing crypto “to unlock the supposed returns on his investments,” which he never received, said CNBC. He orchestrated a series of wire transfers over just eight weeks last year that led to the collapse and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) takeover of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, one of only five US banks that failed in 2023.
As per the report, Hanes made a series of wire transfers from May to June 2023, using the bank’s funds. He also embezzled money from a local church, an investment club and his daughter’s college savings account. The scammers duped him into buying cryptocurrency, insisting that they needed more funds to unlock the supposed return on his investments. But the 53-year-old never realised any profit, and lost all of the money he stole.
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US District Judge John Broomes sentenced Hanes to 24 years in prison, which is 29 months more than what prosecutors requested after he pleaded guilty in May to a single count of embezzlement by a bank officer.
“Hanes’ greed knew no bounds. He trespassed his professional obligations, his personal relationships, and federal law. Not only did Shan Hanes betray Heartland Bank and its investors, but his illegal schemes also jeopardized confidence in financial institutions”, US Attorney Kate E. Brubacher said in a statement.
As per the report, Hanes began stealing after being targeted in a pig-butchering scheme in late 2022. He started making the wire transactions after communicating with the scammers on WhatsApp, whose identities are still unknown. Initially, he used personal funds to buy crypto, but in early 2023 he stole $40,000 from Elkhart Church of Christ and $10,000 from the Santa Fe Investment Club. he then used $60,000 taken from a daughter’s college fund, and nearly $1 million in stock from the Elkhart Financial Corporation.
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In May 2023, he started to make wire transactions from Heartland Tri-State Bank to accounts controlled by scammers. Eventually he was fired, and the bank was shattered and taken over by the FDIC. the 53-year-old was charged last February and placed under house arrest until his sentencing last week.
Pig butchering scams have become increasingly common over past few years. It usually involves a scammer finding and contacting a victim through a messaging app, dating app or a social media platform, after which they try to form a relationship with their victim before eventually luring them into making a series of crypto investments.
