An NFT startup founder is facing federal fraud charges after prosecutors alleged he stole millions of dollars from investors to bankroll his personal lifestyle, including a loan for a Miami condominium and his DJ hobby.
On Wednesday, Miami resident Taj Tarsha, 34, was charged with securities fraud and wire fraud — each of which could mean a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Prosecutors alleged that Tarsha made deceptive claims about how he planned to use investor funds through his company Few and Far Limited.
The company was pitched as a decentralized marketplace for NFTs, funded by "Simple Agreement for Future Tokens", or SAFTs, where investors paid for the rights to those tokens to obtain later on.
Tarsha raised over $10 million by selling 95 million of those tokens to almost 70 investors, prosecutors said.
