Sextet indicted

Imprisonment after cryptocurrency scam involving millions

The sextet had to stand trial at Linz Provincial Court.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

A trial in Linz against six men for serious fraud involving a worthless cryptocurrency resulted in five guilty verdicts on Tuesday evening. The sentences range from three and a half years unconditional imprisonment to 24 months partially conditional, eight of them unconditional. None of the sentences are final.

The sextet allegedly defrauded hundreds of victims worldwide of almost six million euros with a professionally organized marketing campaign from 2017 to April 2018. They pretended to make quick money with the "LoopX" token. According to the indictment, the promise to investors was that a trading software had been developed that would enable more than 10,000 trades per second and thus generate a profit of ten percent per week.

Exposed in Switzerland
The alleged fraudsters obtained the investors' money via crowdfunding. However, the trading software never existed and the tokens were worthless. The entire project had "never been operational at all", according to the public prosecutor's office.

The large-scale crypto fraud was uncovered in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland, where victims known by name had filed a complaint. Traces then also led to Linz. Cybercrime experts from the Federal Criminal Police Office were subsequently able to trace and analyze the course of the transactions. Further leads took the investigators throughout Austria, to Germany, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Thailand.

EU arrest warrants
In October 2023, EU arrest warrants were issued as part of "Operation LoopX" in cooperation with the EU judicial authority Eurojust. One Austrian was arrested in Linz, another in Cyprus and a Czech in Prague. In the meantime, three more Austrians have been arrested in the greater Graz area and in Upper Austria.

Integrity was a reason for minority
The accused, aged between 29 and 40, confessed during the three-day trial. The court stated that their integrity, their contribution to establishing the truth, the fact that the crime was committed a long time ago and their good conduct since then were all considered to be mitigating factors. Above all, the court considered the high amount of damages to be aggravating.

Two defendants were sentenced to three years and three months in prison, another received three years and six months. Alexander Prenner's client and another got off with a partial prison sentence: eight of the 24-month sentence must be served unconditionally. One defendant has yet to be sentenced due to a new request for evidence. None of the sentences are final.