You Won’t Believe What Happened to the SafeMoon CEO! 100 Months of Regret!

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So, a federal judge in Brooklyn has thrown the book at Braden John Karony, the former big cheese of SafeMoon, giving him a cool 100 months in prison. That’s right, folks, for his role in what can only be described as a multi-million dollar fraud scheme. Who knew this guy had such a flair for the dramatic?

JUST IN: Founder of SafeMoon, Braden Karony, has just been sentenced to 100 months in prison.

– unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 10, 2026

Now, Karony got himself convicted of conspiratorial fraud and money laundering after deciding to “borrow” about $9 million from investors to fund his taste for luxury. He assured everyone that the project’s liquidity pools were locked up tighter than a drum-turns out, he had the key all along. Classic move, right?

The coin itself, SafeMoon or SFM, is currently in freefall, down about 99% from its peak in 2021. I mean, it’s practically a ghost at this point.

(source – Coingecko)

Fraud Scheme Exposed: SafeMoon CEO in The Wrong?

Launched back in March 2021 on the Binance Smart Chain, SafeMoon became a darling of the crypto world during the bull market, promising passive yields through some fancy talk about redistributed transaction fees. They even claimed their liquidity pools were “locked.” Spoiler alert: they weren’t. Surprise!

Federal prosecutors rolled out the red carpet of evidence, revealing that Karony and his accomplices, including former CTO Thomas Smith and creator Kyle Nagy, were living it up while maintaining secret access to those supposedly secure pools. What a plot twist!

(source – Justice.gov)

According to the court, these guys exploited a backdoor like it was Black Friday at Best Buy, draining millions from the SafeMoon US LLC liquidity pools. Fast forward nine months, and Karony finds himself wearing orange after getting convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Meanwhile, Smith’s already pleaded guilty, and Nagy is apparently on the run. A real dynamic trio!

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Court Mandates Forfeiture and Restitution

At the sentencing hearing, the court ordered Karony to hand over about $7.5 million and his interest in two properties. Apparently, the DOJ found out he was living the high life, splurging on a $2.2 million home in Utah, along with a Tesla and an Audi R8. Talk about a midlife crisis gone wrong!

Not only did Braden John Karony abuse his position as CEO, but he also betrayed his investors’ trust by stealing more than nine million dollars in digital assets from his company to fund his lavish lifestyle.

While they’re addressing the stolen gains, the court mentioned the actual restitution amount for victims is still up in the air. Because, of course, why make it easy?

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Authorities Continue Crackdown on Crypto Crimes

This 100-month sentence is just the latest in the US government’s crackdown on the wild west of the digital asset sector-because who doesn’t love a good game of “let’s hold people accountable”? The DOJ has been on a roll lately, tossing around hefty fines like it’s confetti. Remember that $400 million forfeiture in the Helix crypto mixer case? Yeah, they’re not playing around.

And guess what? It’s not just the US. South Korea is jumping on the bandwagon, sending a crypto exec to jail right before tightening regulations. The severity of sentences seems to correlate with how much you steal. If you hit the jackpot with direct theft or darknet operations, you might as well start picking out your favorite prison jumpsuit.

For SafeMoon investors, Karony’s sentencing is like closing the book on a really bad novel-thankfully, no sequels!

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2026-02-11 14:13