Former SafeMoon CEO Sentenced to 100 Months in Prison for Multi-Million-Dollar Crypto Fraud
On February 10, 2026, a federal court in Brooklyn, in Kings County, New York, sentenced Braden John Karony, the former chief executive officer of the digital asset company SafeMoon, to 100 months in federal prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that a federal jury had convicted Karony on all counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering after a three-week trial in May 2025.
According to prosecutors, the SafeMoon token, issued by SafeMoon LLC in 2021, once reached a market capitalization of more than $8 billion. Karony and his co-conspirators falsely told investors that the liquidity pools funded by the token's transaction tax were locked and inaccessible to them, while in fact they secretly accessed the pools, diverted millions of dollars, and manipulated the token's price through wash trading and other means.
The court also ordered Karony to forfeit approximately $7.5 million, and the jury ordered the forfeiture of two residential properties; restitution to victims will be determined by the court at a later date. U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said Karony lied to investors from all walks of life and defrauded thousands of victims to buy mansions, sports cars, and custom trucks. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle Jr. said Karony stole more than $9 million in digital assets from his company to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Karony, 29, of Utah, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee. A co-defendant, former chief technology officer Thomas Smith, pleaded guilty in February 2025 and is awaiting sentencing, while another co-conspirator, Kyle Nagy, remains at large.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国司法部大楼入口标识特写（资料照片）。G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；联邦固定图库标准图。 / Photo: Entrance sign detail of the U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; federal fixed-library image.
