Brooklyn Man Gets 8 Years in $40M Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Dwayne Golden, a 57-year-old from Brooklyn, is heading to prison for nearly eight years after admitting to his part in a cryptocurrency scam that cheated investors out of more than $40 million. The sentence was handed down this week in federal court, closing one chapter in a case that’s been dragging on for years.
Golden wasn’t working alone. He and three others—Gregory Aggesen, Marquis Egerton (who also went by “Mardy Eger”), and William White—ran three shady crypto outfits: EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus, and Jet-Coin. They told people their money would be used for overseas trading with “guaranteed” returns. Turns out, it was just a classic Ponzi setup—new investors’ cash went straight to paying off earlier ones, or into the scammers’ pockets.
How It Fell Apart
The whole thing lasted barely five months in 2017 before the platforms vanished, along with the money. But the trouble didn’t end there. For years afterward, Golden and his crew allegedly tried to throw investigators off the trail—destroying records, lying to subpoenas, the works. White, one of the co-defendants, already got 30 months for his role. Aggesen and Egerton are still waiting to learn their fate.
Golden’s sentence includes forfeiting $2.46 million, though the exact amount he’ll have to repay victims hasn’t been finalized yet. The FBI’s urging anyone who got burned to file a claim as part of the restitution process.
A Busy Month for Crypto Crackdowns
This case isn’t some outlier. Federal prosecutors have been swatting down crypto scams left and right lately. Earlier in June, the DOJ went after $225 million tied to “pig butchering” romance scams. Then there was the $7.7 million seizure linked to North Korean hackers. And just days ago, they charged a Russian crypto payments founder with laundering half a billion dollars.
It’s not exactly subtle—the feds are making it clear they’re done playing nice with crypto fraud. Between international cooperation and better blockchain tracking, agencies like the FBI say they’re getting faster at tracing stolen funds. Whether that’s enough to scare off future scammers, though, is another question.
For now, Golden’s case serves as another reminder: if something promises crazy returns with zero risk, it’s probably too good to be true. And if the operators suddenly go radio silent? Well, you might end up waiting years just to recover pennies on the dollar.
