Crypto influencer defrauded cloud computing companies of millions

The latest sentencing of a crypto influencer in the US has shed more light on how he defrauded two "well-known" yet undisclosed cloud computing companies of more than $3.5 million in computing resources.

The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said that Charles O. Parks III (46), also known as "CP3O," was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for operating a large-scale illegal "cryptojacking" operation, using cloud computing resources to mine almost $1 million worth of ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and monero (XMR), among others.

Court documents showed that Parks defrauded both companies for around half a year in 2021. To do so, he created and used a variety of names, corporate affiliations, and email addresses, which allowed him to register numerous accounts and access "massive amounts of computing processing power and storage that he did not pay for."

Moreover, the influencer is said to have deceived the providers into approving heightened privileges and benefits, while also deflecting inquiries about data usage and mounting unpaid subscription balances.

"For example, Parks told one provider that he was using the computing resources to build ‘a global online training company that focuses on media, technology, and business strategy’ and that his goal was ‘to serve 10,000 students simultaneously,’" the Attorney's Office said.

The mined crypto assets were laundered via crypto exchanges, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, an online payment provider, traditional bank accounts, and structured money movements. The laundered money was then used to buy luxury goods, including a Mercedes-Benz, jewelry, and first-class hotel rooms, while also covering his travel expenses.

Parks has now been ordered to forfeit $500,000 and the car, while the amount of restitution will be determined at a later date.

The attorneys also emphasized that Parks boasted about his profits on his YouTube channel.

"Last year, I set a goal for myself that I wanted to make seven digits or more, and so I spent the first ten days of the year creating a – we’ll just call it a really nice crypto script –that I was able to use at scale. And after working those ten days, let’s just put it this way, I didn’t work the rest of the year," he was quoted as saying in the announcement by the attorneys.