A former minority owner of the Minnesota Vikings has been jailed after defrauding a professional league in a $700 million cryptocurrency scam.
Reggie Fowler was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for his role in the major scam of the Alliance of American Football, a short-lived professional league. The league was in operation for less than a year, starting in March 2018 before ending in April 2019 due to bankruptcy.
Prosecutors stated that the 64-year-old lied to the league’s executives when he claimed to have control of bank accounts with millions of dollars from real estate investments. This led to a stock purchase agreement that saw Fowler become the largest shareholder in the league’s parent company.
However, what actually transpired is bank accounts were used to swap digital currencies for cash, without the banks being aware of what was happening. The former NFL team owner processed roughly $750 million in crypto transactions within a period of 10 months.
Fowler’s defence lawyer Edward Sapone claimed the former Vikings owner was sorry for his actions and for not being able to deliver on his promises. "Reggie is extremely remorseful," Sapone wrote. "The American Football League didn’t benefit from the investment that Reggie had planned to make.
“Reggie’s bank accounts were frozen, he could not secure the investment money, and he was not able to invest the large sum of money he promised to invest." Fowler has since been ordered to forfeit $740 million and pay compensation of $53 million.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the former NFL team owner broke the law by processing millions of dollars that had not been regulated. They were done on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges that were used for the purpose of a shadow bank.
"He did so by lying to legitimate U.S. financial institutions, which exposed the U.S. financial system to serious risk," Williams explained. "He then victimized a professional football league by lying about his net worth in exchange for a substantial portion of the league." Fowler became a minority owner for the Vikings in 2005 before the partnership came to an end in 2014.
During that period, the team played in the playoffs three times and clinched the NFC North in 2008 and 2009. The Vikings finished last season by reaching the NFL Wild Card round, where they were defeated by the New York Giants 31-24.
