Titanium Blockchain CEO gets four years in prison for cryptocurrency fraud

Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc. (TBIS) Michael Alan Stollery was sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Friday for his role in a fraud scheme involving the firm.

Stollery made numerous false statements to entice investors to buy into TBIS's initial coin offering (ICO), which he also failed to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"To entice investors, Stollery falsified aspects of TBIS’s white papers, which purportedly offered investors and prospective investors an explanation of the cryptocurrency investment offering, including the purpose and technology behind the offering, how the offering was different from other cryptocurrency opportunities, and the prospects for the offering’s profitability," the Department of Justice noted.

He also posted false client reviews and claimed to have a relationship with the Federal Reserve and many major companies.

Upon securing roughly $21 million, Stollery then used the funds to pay personal expenses such as credit cards payments at bills related to his Hawaii condo.

His sentencing comes amid mounting scrutiny of cryptocurrency firms following the collapse of FTX and the pending trial of founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.