The judge who rattled the crypto industry with her game-changing XRP ($3.14) ruling is making headlines again. Judge Analisa Torres, whose landmark decision that retail XRP sales weren’t securities, sentenced a crypto Ponzi scheme promoter to 30 months in prison Thursday for defrauding investors of $8.4 million.
The sentence comes just days after the SEC filed an appeal brief challenging Torres’ earlier ruling that distinguished between institutional and retail sales of XRP, establishing how certain tokens are not inherently securities when sold to retail investors on exchanges.
Torres’ 2024 ruling sent shockwaves through the industry. Now, another key case rife with political drama is on the line.
In the sentencing, Judge Torres described how Hernandez “sold valueless coins” while pointing to evidence that suggests Hernandez’ continued involvement in similar schemes.
The sentencing follows Hernandez’s guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges from July last year after charges were first forwarded by the SEC in 2022.
“There is some evidence she’s done it since,” Judge Torres said before delivering the sentence, referencing prosecutors’ claims that Hernandez had participated in multiple cryptocurrency investment schemes.
Hernandez worked with co-conspirators between 2017 and 2021 to promote Forcount’s fraudulent crypto tra…
