Crypto Fraud Watch: A $31 Million Judgment, Bitget's Coins Go Dark on Zcash, and a $1,000 Bribe Inside a Bank

Three of today's four stories involve money that already left somebody's account. A Florida court put a number on one, an Atlanta grand jury put a name to another, and the people who drained Bitget spent the week making the rest untraceable.

A $31 Million Judgment, Three Years After the Freeze

On September 30 the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a default judgment of $31.48 million against Brian Early of New Orleans and Alisha Ann Kingrey of Franklin, Arkansas, in the CFTC's Fundsz case. The split is $15.73 million in restitution and $15.75 million in civil penalties, plus permanent trading and registration bans. Both were board members and social media moderators who told more than 14,000 participants that proprietary algorithms produced over 3% per week, with deposits withdrawable with interest after 180 days.

The CFTC filed in August 2023, and a restitution figure is not a check. Victims of a scheme this size usually learn that the judgment amount and the recoverable amount are separate conversations.

Bitget's Stolen Coins Disappear Into a Shielded Pool

Investigator ZachXBT flagged roughly 2,746 ZEC, about $3.9 million, moving into Zcash's shielded pool on Wednesday, a slice of the 18,917 ZEC taken in the September 24 breach. Bitquery traced around $79 million in ETH through THORChain toward bitcoin, while NEAR Protocol's SHIELD system rejected most of an attempted $50 million swap, leaving roughly $503,000 frozen.

That freeze is where the legal significance sits. Tracing is what supports the asset-freeze motion and the exchange subpoena. Shielded funds are not legally untouchable, but a plaintiff who cannot follow the money struggles to persuade a judge to freeze anything.

A $1,000 Bribe and $931,500 Out the Door

An Atlanta federal grand jury indicted Mercedes Henry, 35, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, on bank fraud, access device fraud, and bribery charges. Prosecutors allege that as a universal banker at Ameris Bank branches in 2021, she pulled account numbers for six customers and passed them to co-conspirators, who linked those accounts to Coinbase wallets and moved roughly $931,500 out. Her alleged cut was just over $1,000.

Nothing here was sophisticated: the exchange's onboarding checks worked as designed, and the fraud happened one step earlier, at the branch counter. Liability allocation between a bank and a crypto platform after an insider breach remains unsettled, and turns on whose controls failed and how fast the customer reported.

Britain Starts a Five-Month Clock

The FCA opened its crypto authorization gateway on September 30. Firms doing business in the UK have until February 28, 2027 to apply, with the regime live in October 2027. The roughly 60 firms already registered under UK anti-money-laundering rules have an advantage, but that registration is not a license.

Five months is not generous for a full application, and firms that miss the window get no grace period. For anyone with UK users, the question is whether current custody, governance, and financial-crime arrangements would survive close reading.

How to Protect Yourself

The Fundsz pitch carried the standard tells: a fixed weekly return, a proprietary algorithm, and a lockup that delayed withdrawals 180 days. The Ameris case is harder, because the account numbers came from inside the bank. Review bank and exchange statements monthly, set transfer alerts at the lowest threshold allowed, and treat a newly linked external account as worth a call. Where you hold meaningful crypto, use a platform supporting withdrawal allowlisting and keep long-term holdings off exchange hot wallets.

If funds are gone, timing drives everything. Report to the bank or exchange in writing immediately, since consumer protections and the institution's liability analysis turn on how quickly you gave notice. File with the FBI's IC3 and the CFTC or SEC as applicable, preserve every transaction hash, and speak with counsel before signing any release. Civil asset-freeze relief is a race, and the window in which stolen funds stay visible is measured in days.

At Coin Counsel, we work with individuals and businesses navigating the legal fallout of crypto fraud — whether you're a victim seeking recovery, a company facing regulatory scrutiny, or a project working to stay compliant in an increasingly complex legal landscape. The rules are evolving fast, and the cost of getting it wrong has never been higher. Contact us at coin-counsel.com to speak with a crypto-focused attorney today.

Disclaimer

This blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Coin Counsel or Franco Law PLLC. The legal landscape surrounding cryptocurrency is rapidly evolving and varies by jurisdiction. Do not act or refrain from acting based on information in this post without first consulting a qualified attorney. If you believe you have been the victim of crypto fraud, contact us at coin-counsel.com for a consultation.