Four individuals have been sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-pound cryptocurrency fraud that saw Bitcoin worth £21m dishonestly obtained between October 2017 and January 2018. The convictions took place at Preston Crown Court.
The group worked with ringleader James Parker, who died in 2021 before he could be prosecuted for masterminding the conspiracy from his Blackpool home. Parker exploited a loophole to withdraw dishonestly-obtained crypto assets worth £15m from his trading account on an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange.
Associates Kelly Caton and Jordan Robinson dishonestly withdrew £2.7m and £1.7m respectively from their accounts. Stephen Boys, Parker's financial adviser, worked with a UK national based in the United Arab Emirates to convert the cryptocurrency into cash, which was then laundered through various foreign-based online accounts.
Prosecutor Jonathan Kelleher stated the group “used the internet from the comfort of their own homes to obtain tens of millions of pounds worth of Bitcoin which did not belong to them”. Boys, 59, from Accrington, was jailed for six years for converting and transferring criminal property. Caton, 45, from Blackpool, and Robinson, 24, from Fleetwood, each received four years six months for fraud and related offences. James Austin-Beddoes, 28, from St Annes, received an 18-month suspended sentence.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that a “very significant amount of the laundered assets” had been retrieved, with further amounts being recovered on behalf of the Australian cryptocurrency exchange.
