A surprising outcome emerged from a major cryptocurrency scam case involving the founders of HashFlare, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turgin. Despite prosecutors seeking a 10-year prison sentence, the two men were given a “time served” sentence after spending 16 months in custody. The U.S. judge overseeing the case ordered them to pay fines, complete community service, and undergo supervision. 577 million dollars was scammed from customers through fraudulent crypto mining contracts between 2015 and 2019. The pair admitted to running a classic Ponzi scheme that used new customer funds to pay earlier investors, while spending millions on luxury items like real estate, cars, jewelry, and private jets.