A federal grand jury indicted Sioux Falls crypto investor Benjamin Paul Wiener on 29 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons announced Thursday.
Wiener, 43, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on July 10 and pleaded not guilty. He was indicted last month and released on bond pending a Sept. 15 trial.
Prosecutors allege Wiener made materially false statements to induce victims to hand over money and digital currency to his companies. The scheme hit dozens of victims across South Dakota and Minnesota, with estimated total losses of approximately $20 million, according to the indictment.
After collecting the funds, Wiener allegedly moved them through financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to obscure their source, ownership, and control, then spent them on personal expenses.
When investor money ran dry, or a client asked for their capital back, Wiener allegedly recruited new investors and used the fresh funds to repay earlier ones — the mechanics of a Ponzi scheme. He reportedly used eight entities, including several LLCs, as vehicles for the fraud.
