DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

A court in the Dominican Republic has sentenced Jairo Joel González Durán to eight years in prison for orchestrating a sprawling cryptocurrency and foreign exchange scam that defrauded hundreds of victims out of millions of dollars, El Nacional reports.

The Third Collegiate Court of the National District also ordered González to pay a fine of 300 times the minimum wage for the financial sector. His associate, Kelmin Santos Rodríguez, received a five-year suspended sentence and a 100-times minimum wage fine.

According to prosecutors, the convicted used digital platforms to lure more than 400 investors, promising safe returns on investments in a market they were not authorized to operate in. The fraud exceeded US$15 million, RD$34 million, and more than 3 million in Tether (USDT).

As part of his suspended sentence, Santos Rodríguez is required to live at a fixed address...