New York Judge denies bail for SafeMoon CEO

Nov 14, 2023 at 4:35 PM UTC

Edited by Brian Stone

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New York Judge denies bail for SafeMoon CEO

A federal court ordered Braden Karony to be detained pending his transfer to the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) where the SafeMoon CEO faces crypto fraud charges.

SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony will remain in custody ahead of his ordered move to the Eastern District of New York. The decision issued on Nov. 13 came after prosecutors contested a Utah Judge’s decision to approve Karony’s $500,000 bail and temporarily halted his release.

Judge Eric R. Komitee of the EDNY ruled that the government’s argument over Karony’s flight risk status had merit. According to Judge Komitee, real estate posted by the defendant for his recognizance bond may well have been acquired through ill-gotten gains generated from the alleged multi-billion dollar SafeMoon (SFM) scam.

Prosecutors highlighted a Utah property subject to forfeiture and digital assets worth at least $1.2 million hidden in a private unhosted wallet. The government has been unable to access the wallet, per InnerCityPress.

Judge: I'm far from any sort of expert in the custody and trading of crypto assets.
AUSA: There is $1.2 million in a private, unhosted wallet we do not have access to… We are moving independent of his ability to dissipate victim funds, though.
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) November 13, 2023

Karony was charged with crypto securities fraud and money laundering by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early November 2023. The SEC also indicted SafeMoon founder Kyle Nagy and CTO Thomas Smith on the same allegations.

SafeMoon’s team deceived users and investors, per the SEC’s filing.The executives manipulated the project’s token price and lied about liquidity lockups while executing what prosecutors describe as a crypto pyramid scheme, per the SEC’s complaint.