Cryptocurrency founder pleads guilty to wire fraud, faces up to 20 years in prison

MIAMI, Florida — Austin Michael Taylor, 40, of Miami-Dade County, Florida, has pled guilty to wire fraud for transferring $1,140,000 of CluCoin investor funds to his personal account.

Taylor, the founder of cryptocurrency project CluCoin and owner of CLU LLC, used his social media following to promote the digital token “CLU” and its initial coin offering (ICO), which launched on May 19, 2021. The ICO was initially marketed with a charitable focus, but Taylor later shifted CluCoin’s focus to other projects, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a computer game, and a metaverse platform, according to court records.

In April 2022, Taylor organized and funded “NFTCon: Into the Metaverse” in Miami to attract further investment in CLU and related projects. Following the conference, Taylor began transferring investor funds to his personal account at a virtual currency exchange, using approximately $1.14 million for online gambling, where he lost the funds, according to court records.

Taylor’s sentencing is scheduled for October 31 at 10:00 A.M. before U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conviction. Judge Becerra will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of FBI Miami. The FBI Miami and Washington Field Offices are investigating the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Manolo Reboso prosecuting and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Stone handling asset forfeiture.

Identified victims will be notified via NFT. Investors in CLU who believe they are victims can visit https://www.fbi.gov/CluCoinInvestors to provide relevant information to the FBI.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-20308.