The U.S. Justice Department announced on Tuesday that a former investment banker at Deutsche Bank, Rashawn Russell, admitted to stealing money from investors who trusted him to trade cryptocurrency for them.
Russell could face up to 30 years in prison and will have to pay back more than $1.5 million as restitution.
Russell worked as an investment banker from July 2018 to November 2021 at a financial institution that was not named in the indictment, but his LinkedIn profile indicated that he joined Deutsche Bank as an analyst in July 2018 and became an associate in July 2020.
He lied to potential investors that he was a licensed broker with experience in investment banking and that he ran a cryptocurrency fund called R3, which offered high and sometimes guaranteed returns.