Reggie Fowler, the former NFL team owner and “shadow banker” defendant who faces up to 30 years in prison, asked the Southern District Court of New York for a six-month sentence.
Technically, it was Fowler’s attorney, Ed Sapone, who requested the “unusually long appointment” citing his “serious medical condition” and the need to obtain information relevant to the case from financial institutions, entities and individuals in Europe.
As Independent Journalist Amy Caster reported on this development, Sapone filed the motion on September 10 – three days before the scheduled sentencing. Because prosecutors did not object to the extension, Fowler will be given at least six months in prison. He is now out on bail in Arizona.
The 63-year-old accused of moving a shadow bank into the crypto sector, Crypto Capital, was at the center of the controversy in the court case against iFinex Inc – the parent company of the crypto exchange Bitfinex and the stablecoin issuer Tether. US Attorneys allege that Fowler provided unlicensed money transfer services to several crypto firms along with bank fraud and legal fraud on behalf of drug cartels in Colombia.
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The lawsuit against Bitfinex and Tether alleges that Bitfinex pooled funds between the two organizations to cover an $850 million loss suffered by Bitfinex in connection with its relationship with Crypto Capital. Millions in civil penalties and to close business operations in New York.
Fowler, however, declined a guilty plea in 2020, but surprisingly entered a plea in April 2022. According to Caster, this twist can be explained by financial reasons – Fowler’s original legal team was reduced to one lawyer due to the lack of timely payments, and the lawsuits demanded large sums of money to cover the work.