Crypto Firm CluCoin Co-Founder Developed Gambling Addiction Prior to Wire Fraud Conviction

Austin Michael Taylor, 41, founder of CluCoin, a cryptocurrency token business, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for committing wire fraud during the last crypto boom and ordered to pay victims $1.14 million.

The company, which was originally named CluShare, held an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on May 19, 2021. 

CluCoin held what was considered to be a successful ICO, “during which investors sent millions of dollars worth of more established cryptocurrency to a cryptocurrency address affiliated with CluCoin project.” That was in exchange for “newly issued CluCoin digital tokens.”

Instead, CluCoin proceeded to crash and lose tremendous value. The firm subsequently pivoted to other business ventures, which also failed. Finally, after Taylor developed a gambling addiction, he managed to lose all of his investors’ money at online casinos.

Vinod Sreeharsha of the Miami Herald:

The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra in Miami on Feb. 14, is specific to one count of wire fraud and was in line with the punishment requested by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. It comes after Taylor pleaded guilty in August 2024 in Miami federal court. After jail time, Taylor will have to spend three years of supervised release.

Judge Becerra imposed additional conditions. Taylor cannot “apply for, solicit or incur any further debt, included but not limited to loans, lines of credit or credit card charges, either as a principal or cosigner” without first getting approval from the U.S. Probation Officer. He must also enter a treatment program for his gambling addiction and pay for it.

Victims of CluCoin’s shenanigans were not named in publicly available court documents. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in its sentencing request that there were “hundreds of investors.”