Feds Appeal Light Sentence in HashFlare Crypto Fraud Case

Feds Appeal Light Sentence in $577 Million HashFlare Crypto Fraud Case

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: August 27, 2025

Key Takeaways

US prosecutors are appealing the sentencing of two Estonian men behind a $577 million crypto scam by arguing that it was too lenient;
The scheme sold fake mining contracts through HashFlare from 2015 to 2019, which deceived 440,000 people with false profit displays;
The judge cited risks tied to international sentence transfers as a reason for avoiding prison time, and issued "time served" instead.

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Federal authorities are challenging the outcome of a sentencing decision involving two Estonian citizens who admitted to running a large-scale crypto mining scam.

The appeal, submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, disputes both the judge’s final order and the process that led to it.

Estonians Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin had previously admitted to organizing a fraudulent crypto operation that raised over half a billion dollars. The scam sold fake mining contracts under the HashFlare brand between 2015 and 2019.

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According to the investigation, the two displayed false profit data to users via online dashboards, despite not having the mining equipment they had advertised.

In February, both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to this activity. Prosecutors argued that they tricked around 440,000 individuals across the world and requested prison terms of 10 years for each of them.

However, on August 12, Judge Robert S. Lasnik issued "time served", along with three years of supervised release and fines of $25,000 each.

The judge explained that the court had taken into account the possibility of transferring the sentence to Estonia, where both defendants would serve their time.

He noted that if the transfer request was denied, the two might end up with longer sentences and be held in immigration custody indefinitely after serving time in the US.

On August 22, Anton and James Peraire-Bueno asked a Manhattan court to stop prosecutors from using their Google search activity in an upcoming trial. Why? Read the full story.