In brief
- A senior IcomTech promoter was sentenced to 71 months for running a crypto Ponzi scheme that promised guaranteed returns from mining and trading.
- The scheme collapsed after victims were unable to withdraw funds, resulting in millions of dollars in losses.
- The sentence also covered Mendoza’s illegal reentry after deportation, following decades of unlawful residence and repeated removals from the U.S.
A senior promoter who helped orchestrate a multimillion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme targeting working-class Spanish-speaking investors was sentenced Thursday to 71 months in federal prison.
Magdaleno Mendoza received a sentence for his role in IcomTech, a purported crypto-mining and trading company that launched in mid-2018 and collapsed by the end of 2019, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The scheme falsely promised guaranteed daily returns from crypto trading and mining; instead, it operated as a classic MLM-style Ponzi scheme that recycled new investor funds to pay earlier participants, while promoters siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal use.
He was also ordered to pay $789,218.94 in restitution and forfeit $1.5 million, along with his Downey, California, residence, which was purchased with scheme proceeds.
Mendoza, who had previously promoted at least two other crypto Ponzi schemes, was among IcomTech’s most senior promoters and maintained regular contact with founder David Carmona.
He even used his own restaurant in the Los Angeles area to host pitch events, collecting thousands in cash, as promoters toured the country with flashy expos, arriving in luxury cars and designer clothes while victims watched phantom “profits” grow in dashboards they couldn’t access.
Beginning in August 2018, withdrawal requests were met with delays, excuses, and hidden fees, prompting IcomTech to roll out a proprietary token, “Icoms,” falsely touted as valuable for future payments but ultimately worthless, deepening investor losses.
Ari Redbord, global head of policy at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs and former U.S. attorney, told Decrypt that such schemes exploit real barriers facing immigrant communities.
“Promoters often share a language or cultural background with victims, which lowers skepticism and increases credibility,” Redbord noted. “These schemes also exploit real barriers—limited access to traditional financial services, less exposure to regulatory warnings in a person’s primary language, and heavy reliance on word-of-mouth networks.”
Redbord said the 71-month sentence is “broadly consistent with how courts are treating large-scale crypto Ponzi schemes today, particularly where there is clear intent, significant victim harm, and sustained promotion.”
“Courts are increasingly less focused on the ‘crypto’ label and more on traditional fraud factors like scale, duration, losses, and leadership role,” he added.
The sentence also covered Mendoza’s illegal reentry after deportation, as he had lived in the U.S. unlawfully for decades, been removed four times (once under a false identity), and went on to promote at least three more crypto Ponzi schemes after IcomTech collapsed.
Several co-conspirators have been separately convicted and sentenced for their roles in the scheme, including founder David Carmona, purported CEO Marco Ruiz Ochoa, web developer Gustavo Rodriguez, and senior promoters David Brend, Juan Arellano, and Moses Valdez.
Redbord noted that repeat promoters remain “one of the hardest challenges” in crypto fraud.
“Many move from one scheme to the next, rebranding the pitch and targeting new communities, often across platforms and jurisdictions,” he said. “The IcomTech case shows that even when promoters resurface, their histories eventually catch up with them.”
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
