Kingston man imprisoned over fake crypto scheme and unpaid court debt
A local man received a 42-month custodial term after admitting he cheated a British investor through a bogus digital-currency operation and ignored a previous judicial order to surrender illicit gains.
Kingston man imprisoned over fake crypto scheme and unpaid court debt
A local man received a 42-month custodial term after admitting he cheated a British investor through a bogus digital-currency operation and ignored a previous judicial order to surrender illicit gains.
Jason Kameka entered guilty pleas on June 18 to four separate offences: deceiving someone to obtain funds, handling proceeds of unlawful activity, working as an unregistered investment adviser, and deliberately refusing to honour a Pecuniary Penalty Order handed down five years earlier.
The Constabulary Financial Unit opened its inquiry in September 2022 after a resident of the United Kingdom reported losing £51,000. The victim had been persuaded that the cash would go into a genuine cryptocurrency venture. From August through October 2021, multiple transfers were made into an account controlled by Kameka.
Law-enforcement officials verified that the money was collected, cashed out, and passed on to outside recipients. Checks with the island's Financial Services Commission showed Kameka had never been approved to offer investment advice or trade securities. Investigators also unearthed earlier fraud convictions and an outstanding 2020 court order requiring him to hand over $18,106,176.97 — a sum he never paid.
The presiding judge imposed several concurrent punishments: seventeen months for the deception charge, forty-two months under the Proceeds of Crime Act, eleven months for the unlicensed advisory work, and another forty-two months for defying the repayment order. Because the terms run together, the longest period governs his time behind bars.
Dennis Chung, who leads the Financial Investigations Division, said the judgment sends a clear message that judicial repayment orders are mandatory, not voluntary.
"A Pecuniary Penalty Order is not optional. It is a binding order of the court, made after a determination that a person has benefited from criminal conduct," Chung explained. He added that his agency will keep using legal tools to compel compliance and ensure offenders do not keep what they gained illegally.
Chung also clarified that incarceration for non-payment does not wipe the slate clean. The division can still target any property or earnings Kameka obtains later. People who truly cannot afford to pay, he advised, should petition the court for assistance instead of letting the obligation slide.
Source: Jamaica Observer
Source: Google News JM — Crime