Prosecutors in Manhattan’s federal court want former Minnesota Vikings minority owner Reginald Fowler to serve seven years in jail and forfeit more than $740 million for his role in a crypto scam.
Fowler is accused of establishing Global Trading Solutions LLC to support a money-laundering front for cryptocurrency companies working with Crypto Capital, which allowed cryptocurrency firms to swap their digital currencies for cash.
Crypto Capital operators Oz and Ravid Yosef are defendants in the case alongside Fowler but remain at large, according to Bloomberg.
The former Vikings owner (from 2005-2014) was also a recent investor in the failed Alliance of American Football. Fowler allegedly opened several accounts with U.S. banks by falsely claiming they were for real estate transactions when the funds were helping facilitate crypto transactions instead.
In April 2022, the 64-year-old Fowler pled guilty to wire and bank fraud, as well as conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. In last year’s plea agreement, Fowler admitted to defrauding people associated with the AAF, which shut down after just eight weeks of play in 2019 following Fowler’s decision to withdraw his majority investment in the league.
The suggested $740 million fine and seven-year prison punishment follows Fowler’s rejection of a previous deal to forfeit up to $370 million.
Fowler is set to be sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in New York’s Southern District court.
